Chandigarh, June 24
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today appealed to Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini to register a FIR against chief minister Bhagwant Mann as well as police officers who had manufactured fake forensic reports with the sole motive of refuting Sri Akal Takht Sahib and lowering its dignity.
Addressing a press conference here, senior SAD leader Parambans Singh Romana said it was unfortunate that a case had been registered against only two persons concerned with laboratories whereas the fabrication and forgery was committed by senior Punjab Police officers. “Since the two laboratories concerned were not equipped to go in for an intricate examination of the video, the report was edited and given final shape by the two officers – SP Jashandeep Singh and Ludhiana Commissioner of Police Swapan Sharma. A case should be registered against both these officers”.
Asserting that the case was extremely sensitive and concerned the sentiments of the Sikh community, Romana said, “It must be ascertained as to who got the reports prepared and who gave money to the accused to procure the same”. He also called for seizure of all phones, laptops, hard discs and other technical equipment in the possession of the two Punjab Police officers as well as their staff to get to the bottom of the case. “The call record details of the officers should also be examined to reveal who was giving them directions in this case,” he said.
Stating that the case was a fit case of organized crime (also as per the sections of BNS in FIR), the SAD leader said, “It is condemnable that the Aam Aadmi Party government allowed the government machinery as well as public funds be used to procure fake forensic reports to give a clean chit to the chief minister”. He said the entire modus operandi had been exposed by Jaspreet Singh Jassi who had been contacted by the police officers to procure the two false forensic reports. He said Jassi had given a statement describing how he had been pressured to commit this illegal act and how he was threatened with dire consequences, including elimination of his family members, if he did not comply as directed.
Giving further details of the case, Romana said, “The FIR was registered after due investigation by ACP (Crime-1) Gurgaon. “This means a prima facie case was made out against the accused before the case was registered”. He said it was also a matter of police record that the two laboratories had been roped in to prepare the fake reports were not recognized by the government and did not have the expertise to go in for complex facial recognition tests. He also disclosed that the police officers provided Jaspreet Jassi with an edited video and told him to procure reports to give a clean chit to the chief minister despite knowing that sophisticated tests could not be performed on an edited video.
Romana also asked Finance Minister Harpal Cheema to tell what he had to say in the matter now. He said Harpal Cheema had defended the chief minister robustly on the basis of fake reports and had even indulged in a drama of going to Special DGP Gaurav Yadav to get the issue probed but had suddenly fallen silent now. “Even Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia have gone silent indicating they do not want to defend the indefensible”, the Akali leader added.
