SC refuses to grant protection to suspended IPS G P Singh.
Dispatch News.
Raipur. The Supreme Court had refused to offer protection to the suspended IPS Officer G P Singh in a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Supreme Court Bench comprising the Chief Justice of India, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Hima Kohli, observed that it did not wish to get into merits of the special leave petitions challenging FIRs filed against GP Singh for offences of sedition and extortion. The SC disposed of the matter, requesting the High Court to decide both pending cases in 8 weeks. Till then, the protection granted by the Apex Court will continue.
In the case relating to the FIR registered against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the bench while dismissing the plea, has left it open for the petitioner to avail the remedies available under law. The bench said that it will pass an order to this effect.
The bench was hearing three special leave petitions filed by suspended IPS officer G P Singh challenging the Chhattisgarh High Court’s order refusing to grant him interim relief and quash FIRs registered against him for separate offences including extortion, sedition and case under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Earlier, the bench had agreed to grant the suspended officer interim protection from arrest till October 1, 2021. The bench has directed G P Singh to participate in the inquiry or investigation and cooperate with the investigating agency.
To be mentioned, the Headquarters Intelligence Unit (HIU) of ED Delhi has recently registered the ECIR under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Launder Act, 2002 (PMLA) after which the SEOIACB authorities were also duly notified. Following the registration of ECIR, the ED has also appointed an Assistant Director ranked officer as Investigation Officer (IO) to initiate the probe.
Previously, SEOIACB had registered an FIR against GP Singh, a 1994-batch IPS officer, under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act on June 29 after preliminary findings into complaints that he had allegedly amassed disproportionate assets. Later, the anti-graft agency carried a three-day search at around 15 locations linked to the officer from July 1 to July 3 and claimed to have discovered movable and immovable assets worth around Rs 10 crore.
Based on the documents recovered during the raids, Raipur police also registered a case on charges of sedition and promoting enmity against Singh, who got suspended on July 5. Moreover, following the complaint of a businessman, an offence against IPS Singh was registered with Supela police station in Durg district under Sections 388 (Extortion by threat of accusation of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life, etc), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) and launched a probe. In his complaint to police, the victim alleged that the IPS officer had extorted Rs 20 lakh from him through his associate Ranjeet Saini in 2016 on the threat of fabricating a bogus case.
