Punjab CM orders FIR into ADGP letter leak

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Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Tuesday ordered an FIR in connection with the alleged leak of a letter written by a senior police officer in which he cited legal hurdles in a reinvestigation in some drug cases against a senior Akali leader.

Channi’s statement came a day after the letter written by Additional Director General of Police S K Asthana as the head of the Bureau of Investigation to state police chief Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota surfaced on social media.

The letter came as a major embarrassment for the state government.

“An FIR will be registered to find out how the letter got leaked,” Channi said when reporters questioned him about it.

Without taking names, Channi said the big fish involved in the drug racket would not be spared.

The chief minister, however, claimed that the letter which was leaked was a half version of the original.

There is another report which has not appeared in the media, he added.

Those who are scared of action and the big fish involved in the drug racket and those who could not sleep are threatening our officers, Channi claimed.

ADGP Asthana had written the letter to DGP Sahota on December 11 before proceeding on a leave on medical grounds.

In the letter, the ADGP asked, Can further investigation be ordered in cases where trials have already been concluded? Would it be legally tenable to act upon the report of the head of the STF when the same lies sealed in custody of the high court.

I may place on record my apprehension that further investigation shall require appropriate order by a superior court, which in the present case is the high court as the trials were conducted before the special CBI court Mohali, the ADGP further wrote.