Akali Dal sees conspiracy in demand for reinstating IGP

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday said the "joint conspiracy" of the Congress, the AAP and the PEP to politicize the police action at Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura has been exposed with all three parties approaching the Election Commission to undo the transfer of senior police officer Kunwar Vijay Pratap, a member of the special investigation team.

While claiming that the transfer of the Inspector General of Police had been done by the poll panel "on merit after examination of all facts of the case", SAD Senior Vice President Daljit Singh Cheema accused the Congress of again lying that the SIT investigation into the police firing had been stopped.

"The truth is that only one member of the SIT, Kunwar Vijay Pratap, had been transferred because he had violated the Model Code of Conduct by giving a political interview on the issue. No investigation is stopped due to implementation of Model Code of Conduct," he said in a statement here.

Cheema said that the Congress, in league with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Punjabi Ekta Party (PEP), "had conspired to further politicize the inquiry into the police action and were now feeling frustrated that they had been thwarted from implementing these nefarious goals".

"This is why representatives of all three parties collected together under the leadership of Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar to put pressure on the EC to take back its earlier decision on IG Kunwar Vijay Pratap," he alleged.

The SAD leader said it was unfortunate that the IG was also politicizing an issue which involved violation of the Code of Conduct. He said the SAD filed a complaint against the police officer for participating in a political interview.

"This complaint has nothing to do with the investigation being conducted by SIT which has other members in the investigation team," he said, adding the Congress and other parties were deliberately trying to mislead the people on this issue.

--IANS

js/vd