Soon after the model code of conduct ended, IG Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh was back into the SIT probing into the sacrilege cases and the unprovoked incidents of sacrilege & police firing that had rocked Punjab under the SAD-BJP regime.
He was shifted out of the post when model code of conduct was in force in the state after a complaint by the Shiromani Akali Dal.
Two people were killed and many others injured in Behbal Kalan village on October 15, 2015, when police resorted to unprovoked firing on hundreds of people protesting the alleged desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib in Bargari village in Faridkot a few days earlier. The incident came a day after police used force to disperse agitators in Kotkapura village.
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, who also heads the Home Department, had, during his election campaign, announced that Vijay Pratap would be back to complete and take the SIT investigations to their logical conclusion the day after the election code of conduct is lifted. It may be noted that the code of conduct formally ended on Sunday evening.
In the orders issued on Monday, Home Secretary NS Kalsi said Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh is transferred and posted as IGP, OCCU (Organised Crime Control Unit), with Additional Charge of IGP, Counter Intelligence, Amritsar.
The IG had been posted to Counter Intelligence after he was shifted out of OCCU on EC orders for alleged violation of the model of code conduct, a charge which even the Chief Minister had stated as incorrect.
Kumwar Vijay Pratap Singh was an active part of the SIT investigations into the Bargari and other sacrilege incidents, and the subsequent Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura firing, when he was shunted out by EC orders.
Capt Amarinder had alleged the orders were issued at the behest of the ruling BJP – an ally of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), whose top leaders, including the Badals, have figured in the investigations so far. The Ranjit Singh Commission, set up by the Captain Amarinder government to probe the cases, had suggested further investigation into the role of the Badals, which the SIT was further probing.
The chief minister has repeatedly maintained that the firing on peaceful protestors could not have been possible without the knowledge of then Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal and then Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, who also held the Home portfolio. The Chief Minister has promised stringent action, as per the law, against those found culpable by the SIT.