Centre withdraws gallantry medal to Punjab Police informer-turned-inspector Gurmeet Singh Pinky

A murder case was registered against Pinky in 2001 and he was convicted and awarded life imprisonment in 2006. Subsequently, he was dismissed from the service.
Chandigarh :A gallantry medal given to controversial Punjab Police “cat”-turned-dismissed cop Gurmeet Singh Pinky in 1997 was withdrawn by the President of India.
Pinky, the then sub-inspector with the Punjab Police was awarded the police medal for gallantry on a proposal submitted by the state government for his bravery during service. At the time of awarding him the gallantry medal, the Punjab government had issued integrity certificate in favour of the official.
A murder case was registered against Pinky in 2001 and he was convicted and awarded life imprisonment in 2006. Subsequently, he was dismissed from the service. He was, however, released by the state government secretly on May 24, 2014 and was re-appointed as inspector on May 16 the next year.
However, much before this contentious decision could snowball into a major political controversy, his re-appointment was set aside.
Pinky, a resident of Mohali, was reportedly close to many terrorists in Punjab. In the early 1990s, he had been made a Punjab Police ‘cat’ (commando), helping the police fight terrorism. He later rose to the post of inspector, reportedly because of his proximity to some high-ups.
The Union home ministry came to know about his conviction only in July 2015. Soon the matter was taken up with the Punjab government, which confirmed the conviction and advised the ministry to initiate the process of withdrawal of the medal.
After taking views of the intelligence agencies, the home ministry sent a proposal to President Pranab Mukherjee for withdrawal of the police medal awarded to Pinky.
The President had on June 7 approved the proposal to withdraw the police medal for gallantry, a home ministry official said.
As per the guidelines issued by the home ministry, the gallantry medal is withdrawn when the awardee is convicted by any court of law for such an act or conduct involving moral turpitude which brings the police force into disrepute or awardee is dismissed from service for similar act.