SIT grills ex-DGP Sumedh Saini for over 4 hours in Kotkapura police firing case

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 3

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the 2015 Kotkapura police firing incident today quizzed former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini for four hours and 15 minutes at Punjab Police Officers Institute on his alleged role in the incident.

ADGP LK Yadav is leading the SIT with IG Rakesh Aggarwal and three other police officers as the members. The probe has not progressed much for the past eight months or so as the former DGP had got protection from the High Court.

The SIT had summoned Saini in May after the High Court disposed of a bunch of petitions on the case and asked the SIT to investigate further. However, Saini did not appear earlier before the SIT citing his prior engagements and scheduled court appearances in separate cases.

The probe team is trying to find out if the police had opened fire within the framework of law at a crowd protesting a series of sacrilege incidents in October 2015. Five persons were injured in the police firing.

It also wants to ascertain who ordered the firing and on what kind of provocation. Was the decision to fire at the protesters taken on the spot by the police and administrative officials or the orders came from the then DGP Saini or CM Parkash Singh Badal? Saini's responses could not be known as the SIT cannot brief the media.

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