Updated: December 13, 2020 2:12:47 pm
Jakhar was suspended in May for allegedly receiving money from jail officials on a monthly basis.
Expressing solidarity with protesting farmers, a serving Punjab police officer resigned from his post on Saturday. Lakhminder Singh Jakhar, who was appointed Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Prisons, in Chandigarh, said he resigned on Saturday. “I have completed all the formalities and therefore I don’t think there is any problem in accepting my resignation,” he said.
Jakhar was suspended in May on corruption charges. However, the 56-year-old officer was reinstated two months ago.
In his resignation letter, Jakhar offered to “deposit the salary of the three-month notice period and other arrears as well, so that he can be relieved as soon as possible.”
“First I am a farmer and then a policeman. Whatever position I have today, it is because my father worked as a farmer in the fields and made me study. Therefore, I owe everything to agriculture, ”said Jakhar.
He served as a captain in the 14th Punjab Regiment (Nabha Akal) as a short duty commission officer from 1989 to 1994 and then joined the Punjab Police.
Parveen Kumar Sinha, Deputy Director General of Police, Prisons, said Jakhar submitted his resignation to the Chief Secretary (Prisons), DK Tiwari. “He was reinstated about 2 months ago and is currently stationed at the Chandigarh headquarters,” Sinha said.
Jakhar said his 81-year-old mother is a farmer and “oversees all the farming operations in the village.” “I couldn’t look her in the eye when she asked what was my opinion of our farmer brothers and sisters who braved the cold in Delhi since November 26 while they had also been on the roads of Punjab since mid-September,” said Jakhar.
He said his mother encouraged him to quit to sit with farmers in Delhi. “He is likely to visit Delhi soon,” he said.
In September, Jakhar had posted a photo standing in his fields in Killianwali village with a message: “I am a farmer. I support farmers from my heart. ‘
In 2012, Jakhar was in the news while serving as the superintendent of Patiala Prison and had returned the execution warrants of Balwant Singh Rajona, the first defendant convicted of the murder of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.
In September, Jakhar had posted a photo standing in his fields in Killianwali village with a message: “I am a farmer. I support farmers from my heart. ‘
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
.
