Chandigarh, Mar 20 (PTI) The family of an Army colonel, who has accused 12 police officials of thrashing him and his son over a parking dispute in Patiala, on Thursday met the Punjab governor here, seeking a CBI probe into the matter.
The family also rejected the magisterial probe into the matter ordered by the Punjab government on Thursday.
The colonel’s wife Jaswinder Kaur Bath, her son and another relative on Thursday evening met Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria at Raj Bhavan here.
She alleged that the 12 police officials who thrashed her husband and son had not been named in the FIR. She also claimed that the police have not yet revealed the names of 12 cops who have been suspended in the matter.
On Thursday, the state government appointed IAS officer Paramvir Singh, who is the commissioner of Patiala municipal corporation, as an inquiry officer to probe the incident after the family expressed dissatisfaction with the ongoing probe.
The incident took place on the intervening night of March 13 and 14, when Army Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath and his son were at a roadside eatery near Government Rajindra Hospital Patiala.
The family had alleged that when the two were standing outside their car and having food, some police officials, who were in civil dress, reached the spot and asked the colonel to remove his vehicle as they had to park theirs.
When the colonel objected to their rude tone, one of them punched him and later all police personnel thrashed him and his son, the family alleged. In the brawl, the colonel’s arm was broken and his son suffered a long cut on his head.
Colonel Bath is currently posted at the Army Headquarters, New Delhi.
The Punjab Police on Monday suspended 12 police officials and also initiated departmental inquiry against them in the matter.
The colonel’s wife also accused Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police Nanak Singh of failing to take action in the matter.
She claimed that she recorded a video call in which one police officer was confessing to the assault.
She said the FIR was registered on a statement of the dhaba owner and that police did not lodge the case on the statement of her husband who was the victim.
On her meeting with Kataria, the wife said the governor told her that it was their right that the FIR should be registered on the statement of her husband.
While rejecting the Punjab Police investigation, she demanded that a CBI probe be ordered.
“If my husband and son are found guilty they should be punished as well,” she said, adding that she would hold a protest march outside the deputy commissioner office on March 22 to seek justice in the matter. PTI CHS KVK KVK
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