Days after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee’s (SGPC) delegation met Khalistani militant Balwant Singh Rajoana — currently on death row for assassinating the then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh — inside Patiala Central Jail, the jail superintendent Bhupinderjit Singh Virk has been shifted to the Punjab Police’s headquarter at Chandigarh.

Virk will be replaced by Kapurthala Central Jail Superintendent SP Khanna, who joined his new posting on Wednesday.

The decision came a day after a probe was ordered into the meeting at Patiala Central Jail Superintendent’s office and photos were also clicked inside the office. The probe was ordered after Beant Singh’s grandson and Congress Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu submitted a written complaint to Punjab Jail Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and sought to probe the matter.

The Minister had directed the state Principal Secretary (Prisons) to conduct the probe by going through the jail manual and act against the erring official.

Demanding probe, Bittu had pointed that the Patiala Central Jail Superintendent had “violated the jail manual” by allowing the SGPC delegation, led by its president Gobind Singh Longowal, to meet Rajoana in his office.

“It is even more disturbing that photos of meeting were circulated by SGPC. A group photo of delegation seated around Rajoana comes as a shocker, especially to the Congress workers, who have fought relentlessly against terrorism,” wrote Bittu.

Bittu had asserted that he was unable to comprehend the rules of the Jail Manual under which the delegation entered the office with their cell phones, and click photos with terrorist sentenced to death.

“Moreover, all this is happening when our party is ruling the State,” he stated while demanding a detailed investigation and punishment to the jail administration for “defying” jail rules.

Taking serious note of the incident, Randhawa had underlined that it was a serious matter as no visitor was allowed to carry the phone inside jail.

The Minister noted that the SGPC president can visit the Superintendent office, while at the same time pointing that no one should have been allowed to carry their phones inside the jail premises.

Notably, Rajoana has deferred his January 11 hunger strike after meeting the SGPC president who assured him of all help in pursuing his appeal for commuting his death sentence.

Rajoana had decided to go on a stir against the SGPC for its “lack of support” in pursuing his appeal for commuting his death sentence.

Earlier, the Central Government had included Rajoana’s name to the list of Sikh prisoners for granting special remission as a humanitarian gesture on the 550th parkash purb of Guru Nanak Dev.

However, in December first week, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted in the Parliament that no pardon was granted to Rajoana.