The Pathankot Air Force Base terror attack has brought the past of SP Salwinder Singh in limelight as he is the prime witness of the case and it seems that he’s quite a colorful person.
Five cases of s*xual harassment have been lodged against him by the lady constables posted in Gurdaspur. As per the sources, the cover up was done to protect the senior police officer by the department but as Suresh Arora joined as DGP, all the cases were reopened.
Just couple of days before Salwinder along with his friend Rajesh Verma and cook Madan Gopal was kidnapped by terrorists; recommendation was made for his transfer by Gurpreet Kaur Deo, IG (NRI Affairs) who headed the departmental S*xual Harassment Committee and had just visited Gurdaspur.
When the complainants were contacted and inquired about the complaints made by them against Salwinder, one of the complainants said, “Why are you asking this from me. You should also contact other girls who were harassed by him. We were harassed by him by making indecent comments.”
Another complainant alleged that Salwinder was demanding physical favors while the other told, “An anonymous complaint was made to the DGP. When IG visited we narrated the story.”
The Senior SP of Gurdaspur, Gurpreet Singh Toor responded in this manner, “He has criticised me. If I speak against him he will say I am settling the score. No comments please,” he also maintained that the transfer of Salwinder was done on administrative grounds.
A lady, Karanjeet Kaur from Hoshiarpur has alleged that she and Salwinder were in a live-in relationship for 5 years and he left her after she gave birth to a boy in 1999. Karanjeet claims that Salwinder cheated her by telling that he is unmarried and he also destroyed all the proofs related to their relationship. She said, “We lived together for five years at three places including Sir Hargobindpur, Kotli Surat Msllian and Dera Baba Nanak. We got married in Jalandhar and he used to visit my parental home at Hoshiarpur. Our neighbors and entire family stand a witness.”
Karanjeet also alleged that the police officials saved him and took no action on her complaint. She said, “He deserted me when my son was seven month old. I complained against him to police authorities in Amritsar but they hushed up the case. I am ready for my son’s DNA test to prove his paternity.”
However, Salwinder has denied all the allegations and this is what he has to say, “My past life has nothing to do with this case. I am not a suspect. I am clean and ready for any investigation.”
On Friday, Punjab police has ordered an investigation on the complaint of Karanjeet Kaur, as the spokesperson of Police department stated, “A fact finding enquiry has been instituted by the Director General of Police, Punjab to probe the bigamy allegations against Salwinder Singh. Dhanpreet Kaur, IPS, Senior Superintendent of Police, Hoshiarpur has been asked to conduct a fact finding inquiry into the allegations and submit a report at the earliest.”
