Punjab government constitutes SIT in Patiala murder case

The Punjab government has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the murder of Parampreet Kaur, in which Patiala mayor Jaspal Singh Pardan is one of the accused.
The state government has constituted three member SIT to investigate the murder of Kaur, official sources said today.
"SIT will be headed by Shashi Prabha Dwivedi, IG-Crime. The other two members of the team are DIG, Roopnagar RK Jaiswal and SP crime Balbir Singh," Inspector General of Patiala Zone Paramjeet Singh Gill told PTI.
Meanwhile, postmortem report said that Parampreet Kaur was strangulated with a fine rope and may have been even poisoned to ensure death.

"To confirm it, we have sent viscera samples to our laboratory in Kharar. Poison was also noticed in her stomach," a hospital source said.
Mayor Pardhan, along with his accomplice Paramjit Kaur and her son Harpreet Singh was booked under murder charges on Saturday after Parampreet was found hanging at her in-laws' house in Kashmira Thobha area of the walled city.

Police have already arrested Harpreet, the husband of the deceased, and his mother Paramjit.
Meanwhile, Punjab's Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, has asked Jaspal Singh Pardhan to resign from the post of Mayor.
"The SAD president has examined all aspects related to the case and asked Pardhan to resign," party spokesman Daljeet Singh Cheema told PTI.

Sources said, the state government was under pressure from the opposition and within the party that Pardhan's continuance as Mayor will send a "wrong" signal among the SAD supporters.