CHANDIGARH: Former director (prosecution) of Punjab Vijay Singla, whose presence on June 22 was protested by former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal during his questioning in the Kotkapura police firing case of 2015, resigned from the SIT on Friday.
Singla confirmed that he has conveyed to the SIT that he would not be able to provide his services to the SIT henceforth.
The state government officials had claimed that Singla was made part of the SIT for legal assistance through an order issued on May 19 since the state government while constituting the 3-member SIT on May 7 had cleared that “the SIT may seek assistance of experts for the purpose of the investigation.” SAD questioned presence of ex-director prosecutionThe SIT headed by ADGP LK Yadav is to question Badal’s son and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh on Saturday in the case in Chandigarh.
Sukhbir was deputy chief minister and head of the home department in 2015 when the police firing incident took place on the people protesting against sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib.
The SAD has made it a big issue raising questions on the presence of Singla during the questioning of the party patron stating that as per Section 156 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the power to investigate rested solely with a police officer and the role of the prosecution only started when a challan was presented in the case.
The Punjab government had on May 7 constituted the 3-member SIT to probe two FIRs (dated Oct 14, 2015, and Aug 7, 2018) in connection with the Kotkapura police firing incident.
The Punjab and Haryana high court has given the SIT six months to submit its report.