M A I N   N E W S

Beant kin wants SIT for jailbreak case
Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 24
Delay in announcement of any inquiry into sensational Burail Jail break case by either the Union Home Ministry or the Chandigarh Administration has prompted various political parties, including the Congress, to demand transfer of the case to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising police and intelligence officers from Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi.

Talking to The Tribune here today, Mr Gurkirat Singh, a grandson of former Chief Minister Beant Singh, said that escape of three main suspects in the assassination case of his grandfather had not only regional but national ramifications.

“This unprecedented jailbreak at the midway stage of trial which was being conducted inside the prison premises has sent shockwaves, making not only every member of our family but also a galaxy of police officers, politicians and other eminent citizens insecure. Any further delay in reaching the truth of this unprecedented escape would help the escapees in reviving their activities to the detriment of the peaceful fabric of society made possible by Beant Singh with his supreme sacrifice,” said Mr Gurkirat Singh, holding that a joint investigating team, comprising officers who had been handling militants related crime, was required.

Neither any magisterial inquiry or any inquiry by a special commission would be able to achieve what a Special Investigation Team could achieve in the case, he added. The demand for SIT was corroborated by Mr Parminder Singh, General Secretary, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. “Our party fully endorses setting up of a joint Special Investigation Team which should be given a specific job of not only in identifying officials responsible for the sensational escape of the suspected assassins but should also try to recapture them.

Even Punjab Pradesh Congress chief, Mr H.S. Hanspal, held the Union Home Ministry accountable for this escape maintaining as the Chandigarh Administration was directly under its control. He too wanted that the entire unprecedented jailbreak case be investigated by a credible agency or team.

Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, President, Akali Dal (Amritsar), wanted a judicial probe in the case.

Cases of inter-state ramifications are normally investigated by joint Special Investigation Teams (SITs). Since Chandigarh is a small Union Territory and has limited manpower available for holding an indepth probe into this sensational escape.

The investigation of the case was conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Many of the suspects in the case were apprehended by Punjab police officers and were later handed over to the CBI for trial in the Beant Singh assassination case.

Though the Jail Manual makes it mandatory for the Administration to order a probe into any escape or jailbreak case, the Administration has been taking its own time and deciding what level of inquiry to be ordered in the case.

The Punjab police has already offered to extend all possible help in apprehending the escapees. Spotters, identifiers and informers have been pressed into service to keep a watch on public places. Neighbouring states too have been alerted.

International airports, too, were alerted on the day of the escape. The Punjab police also got prepared a complete list of security personnel, civilians, government employees, witnesses, politicians and others who have been associated with the investigation and trial in the case for reviewing their threat perception.