FIRs against 3 cops

Jalandhar: Three FIRs filed by the Kapurthala police in the past fortnight against three police personnel – an SHO and two ASIs – and a retired SHO on charges of bribery and letting off/aiding criminals have raised a question mark over the functioning of the police and are indicative of a “deep rot in the police administration”.

SHO Harjit Singh and ASI Balwir Singh are absconding. Sarabjit may have fled abroad. Rajpal Singh Sandhu, Kapurthala SSP

Of the four, only an ASI has been nabbed while the other three are at large. In all these FIRs, Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (bribery) is common.

In these three FIRs, filed in quick succession on June 19, June 24 and June 29, a total of 24 persons were booked. Only two persons (a policeman and a middleman) were arrested while two others (drug smugglers) were already in police custody. The police personnel who have been booked are then SHO (March 2023) of the Kotwali police station, Kapurthala, Harjit Singh and station in-charge of the Subhanpur police station, ASI Paramjit Singh, who were accused of taking a bribe of Rs 21 lakh to free a drug smuggler in March this year.

In the third case, former SHO of Sultanpur Lodhi police station Sarabjit Singh was booked after being found guilty of letting off a travel agent accused of a fraud of over Rs 10 lakh.

The police said after these cases, more complaints were pouring in and more disclosures and FIRs were expected in the coming days.

Kapurthala SSP Rajpal Singh Sandhu said, “SHO Harjit Singh and ASI Balwir Singh are absconding. There are reports that Sarabjit Singhmay have fled abroad. Our teams are on the lookout.”