Patiala, July 30 (PTI) A departmental inquiry into the alleged assault on an Army colonel by Punjab Police personnel over a car parking issue has recommended action, including deduction in service and no promotion for three years, against four inspectors and two others, sources said on Wednesday.
The department inquiry was conducted by the Patiala Superintendent of Police into the incident that took place on the intervening night of March 13 and 14, when Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath and his son were having food at a roadside dhaba in Patiala.
Colonel Bath had accused 12 Punjab Police personnel of assaulting him and his son over a parking dispute and sought a transfer of the probe to an independent agency, preferably the CBI.
He alleged that the assailants — four inspector-rank officers of the Punjab Police and their armed subordinates — attacked him and his son without provocation, snatched his ID card and mobile phone, and threatened him with a “fake encounter”, all in public view and under CCTV camera coverage. Following outrage over the incident, the Punjab Police suspended the 12 police personnel and also initiated a departmental inquiry. Following the inquiry, it has been recommended that three years of service of six police personnel will be deducted, besides they will get no increment for three years, the sources said.
There will be no promotion for three years and there will be no salary additions for them, they said.
The suspension of these officers will continue, and they will remain posted out of Patiala, said sources.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on July 16 had transferred the investigation into the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI ).
The petitioner, Bath, had sought an independent probe, preferably by the CBI, into the matter.
On July 25, the CBI re-registered two FIRs filed by the civil lines police station Patiala as its own separate cases, with one from Colonel Bath’s side and the other from the dhaba owner in Patiala.
The FIRs were filed under various provisions of the BNS, which also include the charge of attempt to commit murder.
Before the probe was handed over to the Chandigarh Police, Bath had alleged that a fair investigation was impossible under the Punjab Police. PTI COR CHS VSD RT RT
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