Central agencies keep Punjab Police out of loop

Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 29

The Delhi Police and central security/investigation agencies are not taking the Punjab Police along during operations in the state in connection with the Republic Day violence.

The CBI during today’s raids at several places in the state chose to take men from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) instead of the local police.

Lack of trust following stir

• Under rules, a visiting police team has to inform local police station and take their personnel along
• However, lack of trust seems to have developed over the past few days following the farmer protest
• Also, Punjab is ruled by a Cong government, while the Delhi Police come under BJP-led Union Home Ministry

Reports suggested teams of Delhi Police or other security agencies also raided some villages in pursuit of persons accused of indulging in violence. Senior Punjab Police officials said there was no official communication from the central agencies about the raids. Under the rules, a raiding or visiting police team has to inform the local police station of the area concerned and take their personnel along.

However, a lack of trust seemed to have developed over the past few days following the farmer protest. Also, Punjab is ruled by a Congress government, while the Delhi Police come under the BJP-led Union Home Ministry.

BJP leaders had been accusing the Punjab Police of looking the other way at the start of farmer protests and subsequently not providing security to party leaders during their events in the state.

The situation had escalated to a point where Governor VP Singh Badnore had to summon the Chief Secretary and DGP over alleged attacks on state BJP leaders and workers.

In the past, the Punjab Government had locked horns with the CBI over sacrilege cases and banned the agency from registering cases against state government officials without prior permission. The CBI had closed the investigation in the cases last year but the government withdrew the blanket permission to the CBI only during the farmer protests.

Before the protests, the Punjab Police had worked in tandem with the National Investigation Agency, Delhi Police, Haryana Police and other security agencies in nabbing a number of drugs smugglers, arms dealers and some alleged terrorists.