Sukhi arrest: Virk, Saini cold war may escalate

Wit the Punjab Police likely to seek custody of Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi from the Delhi Police, which had recently arrested him though he was shown as dead in the Punjab Police records for the last 20 years, there are apprehensions that the cold war between friends-turned-foes — current Punjab DGP S S Saini and former DGP S S Virk — may resume.

An alleged Khalistani Commando Force leader, Sukhi was no longer active as a terrorist but had been acting as a police "cat" or informer for a long time. His "fake" death story was not only in full knowledge of the police but some top officers were themselves involved in the story that showed Sukhi was killed in a fake encounter.

The then Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh had himself admitted these facts in the Vidhan Sabha on February 24, 2006.

Sukhi is the same person about whom Virk had openly admitted that he was working as a police cat and had lived under protection of the security forces for a considerable time during the militancy period. Virk, in a press conference in Chandigarh in February, 2006 had said that Sukhi worked for the security forces and that police had not only arranged Sukhi's rehabilitation but also of 300 other former militants — who had helped the police arrest wanted militants — by turning informers. Virk and former DGP K P S Gill had also justified this strategy.

There was much hue and cry in political circles after Virk's disclosure and the issue was hotly debated in the Assembly as well. The then Opposition leader Parkash Singh Badal had demanded a CBI inquiry into matter but then chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh rejected the proposal. Sukhi was living in Jalandhar, posing as Harjit Singh Kahlon, but stayed underground after his real identity was disclosed by the media following a tip-off by some police officers opposed to Virk.

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