After ADGP's letter on missing alerts, Punjab DGP hands Gurdaspur probe to batchmate

CHANDIGARH: Three months after his six-year junior IPS and Punjab Police ADGP Rohit Choudhary wrote a scathing letter on missing Intelligence Bureau (IB) alerts on possibility of terror attack at Pathankot, Punjab Police chief Suresh Arora on Tuesday announced handing over the key investigations of both Pathankot and Gurdaspur terror attacks to Choudhary's batchmate Prabodh Kumar.
Both Kumar and Choudhary are 1988-batch IPS. Kumar had only last week joined from the CBI.
Choudhary, who had played a key role in neutralising IEDs on the railway track during the July 27 Gurdaspur terror attack was heading its SIT. It was unclear if order by Arora to "entrust these investigations" meant Choudhary would no longer be part of the SIT.
In his letter to Arora on January 25, Choudhary, now ADGP (railways), had cateogrically stated that how several coordination meetings with central agencies had to be cancelled due to his "arbitary and hasty" transfer from ADGP (law and order) in November last year and how there were no "coordinated meetings" after a "clear IB alert dated 4/12/2015 of about four armed terrorists seen opposite Paharpur area next to Pathankot".
Choudhary was rewarded with the post of ADGP(law and order) by then Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini after his team had detected IEDs and RDX explosive from the railway track on the morning of July 27.
Arora also handed over the investigations on the recent spate of four big attacks on Shiv Sena and RSS shakha in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Gurdaspur and Khanna, the latest including the killing of Shiv Sena (labour wing) chief Durga Gupta in broad daylight last Saturday.
Till now, most of these investigations were being looked after by the Bureau Of Investigation (BOI) that is headed by additional director general of police (crime) Iqbal Preet Sahota.
Coincidentally, Sahota is also Kumar and Choudhary's batchmate.
Sahota was last year handpicked by Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal in March 2015 to head the BOI when he (Badal) had announced separating the investigations from the law and order.
At that time, the law and order wing was beign looked after the current ADGP(administration) Dinkar Gupta. Months later, Gupta was divested of all crucial wings of law and order, security and traffic amid unknown reasons.
A statement issued by Arora further said, "In addition, the DGP has also deputed Prabodh Kumar as the Nodal Officer from Punjab Police for effecting necessary liaison and co-ordination with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) regarding the Pathankot Airbase terrorist attack"
The move surprised many in police headquarters as it came nearly three months after Kumar's batchmate, who was heading the Gurdaspur special investigation team (SIT), had written a scathing letter in January to Arora on missing three Intelligence Bureau (IB) alerts on the possibility of terror attack at Pathankot.