Former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh may have given his seal of approval to police cats yesterday while speaking in defence of arrested DGP S.S. Virk, but the experiment has not been very successful in Punjab.
Take the instance of terrorist-turned-cat-turned-police inspector Gurmeet Singh, alias Pinky. He enjoyed proximity with both terrorists and the police in the early Nineties and his information led to some successful encounters and arrest of terrorists. This earned him a permanent place in the police and he was inducted as a constable in the force, from where he rose to the post of inspector. But his past caught up with him when a Yamunanagar court sentenced him to life imprisonment on September 30 last year for the murder of Ludhiana resident Avtar Singh Gola. At that time, Pinky was serving as incharge, CIA staff, Fatehgarh Sahib.
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Admits a senior police official, “The surrender and subsequent rehabilitation programme was not as successful as expected.’’
Former militant-turned-police cat Sukhjinder Singh Sukhi, alias Harjit Singh Kahlon, was booked by the Punjab Police for having procured a passport in the name of Kahlon by furnishing fake documents. There were allegations against Sukhi that he threatened people for property. But Sukhi, who has been working as a real estate agent, has denied all allegations of land-grab.
Paramjeet Singh Pamma, hailing from a village near Ajnala, was reportedly a cat in the early Nineties, but was booked a couple of years ago under the NDPS Act. He was also allegedly involved in property disputes. Other so-called cats, Ravinderjit Singh of Batala and Rana of
Jalandhar, also face similar allegations.
Kulwant Singh Kanta, who was a police cat and was later inducted into the force, was involved in the Prabir kidnapping in 2005 and died in jail this year.
In the Eighties, twin brothers Satwinder Singh Tommy and Parwinder Singh Rommy acted as police cats, but the latter was killed by militants. The police killed a number of militants on Tommy’s tip-offs, but in September 2003, Tommy was arrested in a criminal case.
Most police officers during militancy in Punjab had their own cats, who helped in unveiling a strong offensive against terrorism. However, several of them earned the wrath of various human rights organisations. In fact, some police officers are still facing prosecution in rights cases.