Inspector General of Police (IGP) Gautam Cheema, who is facing charges of abduction and molestation, was on Saturday suspended by Punjab Government to ensure free and fair probe into the cases registered against him.
A spokesman of Punjab’s Home Affairs and Justice Department said, “Gautam Cheema, IPS, Inspector General of Police, is placed under suspension with immediate effect.”
He said that during the suspension period, Cheema’s headquarter would be the office of Director General of Police, Punjab here.
On September 2, Cheema and his two accomplices were booked for allegedly molesting a Mohali resident. He was charged with Sections 452 (trespass, assault or wrongful restraint), 323 (causing hurt), 342 (wrongful confinement), 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 506 (criminal intimidation), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code and various sections of Arms Act, said police officials.
This was the second FIR lodged by the Punjab police against the officer. In the first case, he was booked for allegedly kidnapping a proclaimed offender.
Krispy Khera, a resident of Sector 70 Mohali, had alleged that Cheema along with Ajay Chowdhary and some unidentified men had come to her house on the night of March 20 and molested her. He also threatened her and her husband.
Her husband, Sumedh Gulati, who was once reportedly a friend of Cheema, had been booked by Panchkula police last month for allegedly raping a woman in a hotel. He was also wanted by Mohali and Chandigarh police in a fraud case.
Earlier, a kidnapping case was registered against Cheema on the complaint of an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), after he allegedly took Gulati, who was booked in a fraud case, from Phase 1 police station in Mohali.