Missing documents case: Police have no inquiry report, says RTI reply

Indian Express: Chandigarh: Saturday, 23 May 2015.

After the documents went missing in a case of extortion and criminal intimidation against Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) member Ranjit Singh Panjhetha, it has come to light that in an RTI reply to the complainant, the police have replied that they do not have any inquiry report. On Wednesday, the court of Civil Judge Junior Division Dazy Bangarh had issued notices to the Chandigarh Police SSP and the Station House Officer of Sector 39 police station to present the documents in the case.

The police have washed their hands off from the RTI application, the reply to which was sent to the complainant by the ASP (South) reads, “I have personally checked the judicial and police files in the court, but no inquiry or statement, which is conducted by DSP Ashish Kapoor, is attached in the file. Hence a NIL report may be considered.”

Talking to Newsline, the complainant said, “All the vital documents of the case are disappearing one after the other. The CFSL reports are also missing. A sealed cover which was attached in the judicial file was also cut open from one side and the documents were missing.”

The complainant’s counsel, Rajan Malhotra, said, “The case will weaken if we do not get these documents. The police say that they do not have the documents, but the list of documents in the index of the chargesheet mentions the inquiry report by DSP Ashish Kapoor.”

Ranjit had allegedly threatened the doctor to throw acid on her and also tried to extract money from her. “The plea which the accused has taken that they was close friends with him are false and baseless,” said the counsel for the complainant.

The case was registered in July 2012, reportedly on the basis of then DSP Headquarters Ashish Kapoor’s report. The FIR mentions that a opinion was also sought from the legal arm of the police. The case investigation was marked to then SHO of Sector 19 police station, Inspector Harjit Kaur, as it was believed that the accused was a close friend of the then SHO of Sector 39 police station, Inspector Charanjit Singh.

Sources in the police said that the inquiry report was submitted by DSP Kapoor, on which the case was registered.