Under pressure in the wake of state-wide agitations over incidents of desecration of the Sikh holy book, the Punjab government on Sunday removed its Director-General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini and appointed Suresh Arora in his place.
Confirming the change of guard, an official spokesperson said orders regarding Mr. Suresh Arora’s appointment have already been issued. “Mr. Sumesdh Singh Saini has been now posted as DGP-cum-Chairman of the Punjab Police Housing Corporation,” said the spokesperson.
The removal of Mr. Saini, who is believed to be close to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal is being seen as an attempt to mollify Sikh protesters.
Mr. Arora, an IPS officer of the 1982 batch, took charge of his new post. He was earlier the Director-General of Police-cum-Chief Director of the Vigilance Bureau.
He had played a crucial role in fighting terrorism and was posted as SP (headquarters) in Amritsar, during Operation Black Thunder I, and as SSP Amritsar at the time of Operation Black Thunder II.
Sources say, the decision to shunting out Mr. Saini came after senior Akali Dal leaders met the Chief Minister in a bid to draw up a new strategy to deal with the current situation of unrest prevailing in the State.
The Union Home Minster had reportedly spoken to the Chief Minister last week about the developments subsequent to the desecration of Guru Granth Sahib.
The Punjab police have been under attack by Sikh protesters for not being sincere in solving the case when the ‘bir’ was reportedly first stolen in June this year from Bargari village in Faridkot. Later, when a series of desecration incidents were reported from various parts of the State, Sikh protesters plunged into action. Tension escalated when police opened fire at protesters at Behbal Kalan village, killing two persons and injuring 50 others.
Police claimhas no takersPolice, however, claimed that they had solved the case and had arrested two brothers, Rupinder Singh and Jaswinder Singh of Panjgarain village for their alleged involvement in the desecration case in Bargari village. Police said that there was an involvement of foreign elements in this case, which police supported by phone transcripts.
The police claims, however, were rejected by Sikh leaders and residents of Panjgarin. They said that the two brothers were being falsely implicated. They viewed it as an attempt by the State government to malign the Sikh community. There were no foreign elements involved and the government was only trying to mislead the people of Punjab, they charged.
