Uppal arrest: Cops with illegal arms under scanner

Party president H S Dhami said there was need to get to the bottom of the matter,as the recent recovery of illegal arms from the middle rank officer was just a tip of the iceberg. In recent times,similar cache of illegal arms have been recovered from Tarn Taran SHO,DSP of Chandigarh Police and policemen from Mansa area.

During the period of militancy,a huge cache of AK-47 rifles,besides ammunition and explosive material,were seized from militants. A section of the policemen concealed the weapons and never brought them on record,alleged Dhami.

He added that during the reign of the SAD-BJP government in Punjab from 1997 to 2002,the then ADGP (Crime) J S Chahal had ordered the registration of these weapons with the police station concerned,but to no avail. In his memo,he had instructed all SSPs to submit a certificate after personally examining the arms and ammunition seized from Sikh militants between January 1,1985 and December 31,1996.

To drive his point home,Dhami quoted a report published by India Today in its September 29,1997 issue titled “Weapons at large”. It stated that SSPs of all districts,barring a few,were hesitant to give the certificate on the argument that “it will open pandora’s box and many middle or senior officers would land in problem”.

Dhami said that the political leadership in Punjab,irrespective of any party,has become captive of the police and civil bureaucracy. “Neither the present nor the former chief minister has guts to hold an inquiry against the discredited police higher ups. Hence,the only hope left was with the judiciary,” he added.