In an unprecedented move, Superintendent of Police (SP) Shimla Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi lashed out at own boss , Director General of Police (DGP) Atul Verma, of questioning the investigation of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the state government to probe Chief Engineer Vimal Negi’s death, with an ulterior motive.
The SIT, being headed by SP Sanjeev Gandhi, was sharply questioned by the Himachal Pradesh High Court on Friday before transferring the Vimal Negi death case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Talking to media at Shimla on Saturday, SP Shimla, Gandhi levelled serious allegations against DGP Atul Verma and said, “ he would prefer to quit rather than tolerate insults.”
The SP also accused the state police chief and his staff of misconduct in other cases. There was no immediate reaction from DGP, or his office .
While ordering a CBI probe in the Vimal Negi death case, the High Court on Friday said that “ The court is of the considered view that in this case, there is an exceptional situation that requires the matter be investigated by the CBI, as the DGP has raised grave concerns about the mode and manner in which the investigation is being carried out in his status report.”
The SP said, “We had carried out the investigation with full honesty and integrity, and the status report and affidavit presented by the DGP in the court were very irresponsible, and it has happened as senior police officers posted in the police headquarters hold a grudge against me (SP).”
He said, “ I would again approach the court with facts and documents and also expose DGP Verma as to how he filed the status report with ‘ulterior motives.”
Targeting the DGP’s staff, Gandhi accused, “During the ongoing campaign launched by the Shimla police against the drug mafia, it had came to notice that a member of the personal staff of the DGP had links with the Sanjay Bhuria gang, allegedly involved in the drug trade.”
He claimed, ” A false report was submitted at the behest of the DGP Atul Verma” in the Vinay Aggarwal case; Aggarwal was booked for allegedly carrying out extortion in industrial areas of Himachal Pradesh”.
Gandhi alleged, “The involvement of DGP personal staff has also been found in the leaking of a confidential document report from the CID department, following which an FIR was registered in the case, and I have no hesitation in saying that pressure was built to obstruct the investigation on several occasions.”
He stated , “A conspiracy was being hatched against him by the DGP Office for a long time, and efforts were made to project a simple gas leak blast at an eatery in Shimla as a terrorist activity with the claim that RDX was found, alleging manipulation of the National Security Guard (NSG) by former DGP Sanjay Kundu and senior officers ; however, the final report said there was no RDX and it was a gas leak blast” he addd .
It is notable, two persons were killed and ten others injured in the blast that occurred in the eatery located in Middle Bazaar adjacent to the fire brigade office in the heart of Shimla on July 18, 2023.
“I have filed a petition in HP High Court against BJP MLA from Dharamshala, Sudhir Sharma for selectively live streaming the High Court proceedings, which is contempt of proceedings and a violation of the Copyright and Information Act,” Gandhi said.
This is not the first time the workings of HP Police has come under cloud , as a CBI court in Chandigarh had sentenced HP Inspector General of Police (IGP) Zahoor Zaidi and seven other police personnel to life imprisonment, a few months back for their involvement in the custodial death of Suraj, a Nepali labourer, during the investigation of the horrifying murder and rape of a young girl ( Gudiya) in the Kotkhai area in 2017, after the CBI probe.
( With inputs from PTI)
