Senior police officers resent Sidhu’s posting as STF head

Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 19

A day after he was re-posted as STF chief, ADGP Harpreet Singh Sidhu held a meeting with DGP Dinkar Gupta this afternoon even as state government officials revealed there was resentment among some senior police officers against Sidhu’s posting.

Police sources privy to the meeting between the DGP and the ADGP insisted there were no differences between both officers, who discussed ways to work in tandem so that the menace of drugs abuse can be handled better.

Officials in the civil secretariat said senior police officers had conveyed the displeasure at his being ensconced as the STF chief on the plea that he had earlier caused embarrassment to the former DGP by summoning his aide Raj Jit Singh in an alleged drugs case. Certain documents about property of senior officials were also submitted.

Sources said as soon as Sidhu was back in saddle as the STF chief, the government had to face verbal protests by police officers who maintained that unsavoury controversy over some senior police officers’ involvement with drugs smugglers might resurface.

Sources said the Chief Minister had taken the decision to post him back after Sidhu had written a letter to him saying he should be allowed to go back to the Centre. He wanted to be posted in terrorist-infiltrated Jammu and Kashmir and sought from the Chief Minister to raise the matter with Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his visit to meet the latter recently.

Also, a group of MLAs had met the Chief Minister seeking Sidhu to head the STF as drugs was becoming an issue in Punjab yet again with recent seizures of huge cache of drugs and rise in drug overdose deaths. The STF has seen fourth head in just two and a half years of its formation. While Harpreet Sidhu was the first, DGP Mohammad Mustafa was second and ADGP Gurpreet Deo third.

Sources said the Chief Minister had also spoken to Sidhu in detail before posting him back as the STF chief. Sidhu has been advised by several quarters to steer clear of controversies now and concentrate on eradicating the menace of drugs.

It remains to be seen if the STF and the Punjab Police will work in tandem. Earlier, during the first tenure of Sidhu, the Chief Minister had announced that he would report directly to him but later on his bypassing the DGP, Punjab, became a major issue.

Fourth chief in two-and-a-half years 

• Officials in the civil secretariat say senior police officers have conveyed the displeasure at Harpreet Singh Sidhu’s posting as STF chief on the plea that he had earlier caused embarrassment to the former DGP by summoning his aide Raj Jit Singh in an alleged drugs case 
• The STF has seen fourth head in just two and a half years of its formation. While Harpreet Sidhu was the first, DGP Mohammad Mustafa was second and ADGP Gurpreet Deo third