2015 Kotkapura firing: SIT uses AI-powered system, but fails to identify violence suspects

Nearly eight years after the post-sacrilege police firing incident at Kotkapura in Faridkot district, the Punjab Police special investigation team (SIT) led by ADGP LK Yadav checked criminal database with the use of the Punjab Artificial Intelligence System (PAIS) but failed to identify suspects involved in violence during the incident

Faridkot : Nearly eight years after the post-sacrilege police firing incident at Kotkapura in Faridkot district, the special investigation team (SIT) led by ADGP LK Yadav checked criminal database with the use of the Punjab Artificial Intelligence System (PAIS) but failed to identify suspects involved in violence during the incident, officials familiar with the matter said.

Nearly eight years after the post-sacrilege police firing incident at Kotkapura in Faridkot district, the special investigation team (SIT) led by ADGP LK Yadav checked criminal database with the use of the Punjab Artificial Intelligence System (PAIS) but failed to identify suspects involved in violence during the incident.

The supplementary chargesheet filed by the SIT on August 28 had no names of protesters who attacked the cops, said an official.

On October 14, 2015, police opened fire at people protesting at Kotkapura against the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib. Over 30 police personnel and some protesters were injured and public property was damaged during the incident.

The SIT had filed a 2,500-pages second supplementary chargesheet in a court along with supportive documentary evidence in an FIR registered in 2018 on the recommendation of Justice Ranjit Singh (retd) Commission report.

The list of documents supplied in the supplementary chargesheet includes a copy of a letter received from the office of the ADGP, Anti Gangster Task Force (AGTF), regarding the identification of persons and checking database with the use of PAIS in another FIR. According to information, the SIT had forwarded a request to the AGTF in June regarding the identification of suspected persons through facial recognition.

After the Kotkapura firing incident, the police registered an FIR against 15 Sikh preachers and some unidentified persons for allegedly instigating the protesters to attack the police.

With features like facial recognition, the PAIS retrieved information of criminals from the records in real time. However, no protester had criminal case registered against him, said an official who didn’t wished to be named.

At present, the PAIS has a database of over 90,000 criminals. In May this year, the SIT had also released CCTV footage and pictures of the protest site minutes before the incident seeking help from people to identify a suspected person.

Sukhbir, other accused given copies of challan

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief and then deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal along with other accused appeared in the Faridkot court on Saturday. The copies of the second supplementary chargesheet, which was submitted by the SIT last week, were supplied to the accused by the court. The matter was adjourned to September 16.

Sacrilege chargesheets made part of supplementary challan

The SIT has made the chargesheet filed in 2015 sacrilege cases of Bargari, Malke and Gurusar Bhagta as part of the supplementary challan.

The probe team has also made the chargesheets filed in the murder cases of two dera followers --- Mohinderpal Bittu and Pardeep Kataria --- part of the fresh chargesheet. Both were accused in the Bargari sacrilege case. Bittu was murdered in Nabha jail in 2019, while Kataria was shot dead in Kotkapura in 2022.

The SIT has also included a copy of the letter granting pardon to Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. Another Punjab Police SIT has filed a chargesheet against Ram Rahim in the Bargari sacrilege case naming him “main accused”. It also included a copy of the withdrawal of the pardon granted to Ram Rahim.

On February 24, the SIT, set up by Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government in May 2021, had filed a 7,000-page chargesheet in a Faridkot court. On April 25, a 2,400-page supplementary chargesheet was filed by the SIT along with Punjab home department sanction to prosecute eight accused. The SIT named Sukhbir, former director general of police Sumedh Singh Saini, suspended IGP Paramraj Singh Umranangal, then director general of police (DGP) Amar Singh Chahal, then Faridkot SSP Sukhmander Singh Mann and former SSP Charanjit Singh Sharma in an FIR registered in 2018 in connection with Kotkapura firing case.