Poll panel reins in Punjab Police
By IANSWednesday, March 25, 2009
NEW DELHI - Punjab Police may be well known for its hard tactics but the force has sure been put on soft mode by the Election Commission.
The poll panel has shunted out top officials from the home and police departments in recent days to ensure that the May 7 and 13 elections to the state’s 13 parliamentary seats go off peacefully.
The first to be asked to go were Home Secretary Sudhir Mital and other senior district-level police officials. Now Punjab’s additional director general of police (ADGP) law and order, Shashi Kant too has been moved from his post.
Shashi Kant had headed the state’s intelligence wing when the Punjab government got the police to conduct a secret and controversial survey in all districts. Besides other things, the survey had sought information on ‘known smugglers and criminals’ with their own little vote banks.
