Panjab Forms SIT to Probe Chawla Rape Case; LPU Rape Not Confirmed

October

2026

Panjab government has set up a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe a rape case in Anandpur Sahib, in which a former member of the apex Sikh management body Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Amarjit Singh Chawla, has been booked. Chawla was booked on the charge of rape in Anandpur Sahib on 21 Aug, following a complaint by a woman who had returned from Bahrain and was reportedly housed in an SGPC-managed inn. Chawla, who resigned as SGPC member after the registration of the First Information Report, has termed the allegations ‘false’ and ‘fabricated’. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Panjab media in-charge Baltej Pannu said, ‘Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has constituted the three-member SIT to be headed by senior Panjab Police officer Gurbans Singh Bains, with Simranjit Singh and Karan Singh Sandhu as members.’ The SGPC had sought a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the matter after finding irregularities in the inn’s records. AAP, however, said the SGPC had not clarified who recommended the booking of a room for the woman. Meanwhile, the Panjab government has told the Punjab and Haryana High Court (PHHC) that investigation into the alleged incident of rape that sparked arson and violence at Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Phagwara in September has not been confirmed so far. The government further told the court that the person who posted about the rumors of rape on social media has been identified, but that person said that they heard it from others. The government response came in a Public Interest Litigation filed by a Bachelor of Technology LPU student Ravi Raj. Additionally, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoned CM Mann’s brother-in-law and Panjabi film producer, Amardeep Singh Grewal, for questioning on 9 Oct in connection with an alleged USD 521K bribery case in which the CM’s wife, Dr. Gurpreet Kaur Mann, had been named. Grewal failed to appear before the ED in response to summons. An ED official, who wished to remain anonymous, said, ‘Grewal didn’t appear before the agency. He had not communicated anything to the agency regarding his absence or sought any extension of the summons.’ The alleged controversy relates to a rape case registered in Amritsar, in which it was alleged that Grewal had offered to get the investigation scuttled in return for a bribe of USD 521K (earlier coverage).