india

Updated: Feb 19, 2019 08:02 IST

Paramraj Singh Umranangal, a senior Punjab police officer, was arrested on Monday by a special team set up to probe the 2015 crackdown on anti-sacrilege protesters in October 2015. Two young Sikhs were killed in the police firing in Behbal Kalan of Faridkot district.

The special investigation team set up to probe the case had last month arrested former Moga district police chief SSP Charanjit Singh Sharma. On Monday, SIT member Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh confirmed that inspector general of police, Paramraj Singh Umranangal, had also been arrested from Chandigarh.

Charanjit Singh Sharma was the first officer to be arrested by the SIT since October 2015 when the case was incident took place.

Sharma was leading the police party that allegedly opened fire at the anti-sacrilege protesters at Behbal Kalan.

The development came after the Punjab and Haryana high court upheld the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission of Inquiry report on the 2015 sacrilege and police firing and dismissed petitions by some retired and serving policemen to hand over the probe to the CBI.

The former Moga SSP, according to the SIT, was about to leave the country when he was arrested. It had been alleged that he had got himself visas to travel to UK, Canada and USA and was trying to abscond.