Transfer of SIT IG by EC isolates SAD in Punjab

It took a complaint from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to get Punjab Police Inspector General (IG) Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh shifted out by the Election Commission from the high-profile special investigation team (SIT) probing the Behbal Kalan firing incident and linked sacrilege cases.

But it has also isolated the SAD with the ruling Congress, opposition Aam Aadmi Party, the SAD (Taksali) and Sikh hardliner groups gunning for its leadership.

The firing incident and the sacrilege cases had happened in October 2015 during the SAD-BJP alliance government in the state.

The SIT, which has booked and arrested even senior police officers for ordering firing on Sikh protesters in the Faridkot district, has questioned senior SAD leaders, including SAD patron and five-time Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and party president Sukhbir Singh Badal.

The SAD, cornered politically for the last one year on the issues, was uncomfortable with the SIT investigation, in which it feared its top brass could be named.

The sacrilege cases and firing incidents have become sensitive issue in the Sikh religious affairs in Punjab since 2015.

The Congress, in power since March 2017, the AAP and others are now using the SAD move to corner it further.

--IANS

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