The Chandigarh Police invited flak from the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday in a case of illegal land deals allegedly conducted by Baba Pritpal Singh, head of the management committee of Gurdwara Gursagar Sahib, Chandigarh. Expressing displeasure at the failure of the police to arrest Baba Pritpal, Justice Mahesh Grover termed the investigation as “telegraphic”. He told Anupam Gupta, senior standing counsel for the UT Administration, “If your (UT) police is so incapable of handling this case, then tell me, I will give it to some other investigating agency.”

Turning down the anticipatory bail plea of Pritpal, the Court gave the police “one more chance” to arrest him. The regular bail plea of Inder Pal Singh, co-accused in the case, was also rejected. The counsel for Kanwaljit Kaur, the complainant, alleged connivance between the accused and the police. “My client is receiving threats to withdraw the complaint. The city police and the accused have connived with each other,” said the counsel. Gupta admitted the “lack of effort” by the earlier investigating team saying some officers were Pritpal’s followers.

Gupta also objected to the fact that two co-accused in the case were not sent in police remand for a single day by the lower court. “Refusing police remand in such a serious case is an encouragement to those who are part of an emerging criminal network. Not only does the laxity of my police pain me, but also the laxity of other organs of the state,” Gupta said. He also expressed the Chandigarh Police’s apprehensions that the Baba’s wife, Charan Kamal Kaur, was trying to flee abroad. He requested the court to grant the police permission to impound her passport, which the court agreed to. Baba Pritpal’s counsel, meanwhile, questioned the integrity of the complainant, saying that a property dealer was behind the complaint against his client.