Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Gurpreet Singh Bhullar was on Tuesday, 1 September appointed as Inspector General of Police, Border Range — a sensitive security posting covering Amritsar, Batala, Gurdaspur, and Pathankop districts along the India-Pakistan border. The appointment comes less than a month after Bhullar was removed as Amritsar's Police Commissioner amid a controversy over his purported statements allegedly linking Pakistan ISI-backed terror modules to protesters at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar.

The Transfer and Reshuffle

The reposting was part of a broader police reshuffle in Punjab that saw multiple officials shifted. Bhullar replaced Deputy Inspector General, Border Range, Harmanbir Singh Gill, who was in turn given charge as Amritsar's Commissioner of Police. The Border Range jurisdiction encompasses districts that largely fall along the sensitive India-Pakistan international border, making it one of the state's most operationally critical postings.

The Terror Module That Sparked the Row

Before his transfer, Bhullar had been leading the investigation that exposed an alleged ISI-linked plot in Amritsar. The Amritsar Commissionerate Police had busted two ISI-backed cross-border terror modules, arresting nine individuals — including four juveniles — and recovering three illegal pistols, nine cartridges, and four petrol-bottle bombs.

The controversy erupted after videos from Bhullar's 4 August press briefing went viral on social media. Selectively edited clips and misleading captions appeared to suggest that the arrested individuals were connected to the ongoing protests at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

What the Police Actually Said

A Punjab Police spokesperson moved quickly to counter the viral narrative. According to the spokesperson, the press conference had conveyed that some of the arrested individuals had conducted reconnaissance at Jantar Mantar and had planned to target protesters there using petrol bombs — not that the protesters themselves were linked to the terror module.

'The altered background visuals, selective video editing, and accompanying captions or explanations are incorrect and create a misleading impression that the arrested individuals were linked to the Jantar Mantar protests,' the spokesperson said. The clarification further noted that 'while the audio and factual content of the press conference itself were not altered or morphed, the selective editing and accompanying captions fail to accurately represent the press conference.'

Significance of the New Posting

Bhullar's appointment to the Border Range IG role is notable given the strategic sensitivity of the districts involved. Amritsar, Batala, Gurdaspur, and Pathankot have historically been focal points for cross-border smuggling, arms trafficking, and infiltration attempts. His prior experience in dismantling ISI-linked modules may factor into the rationale for the posting. With the viral controversy now officially rebutted, the Punjab government appears to have moved to redeploy Bhullar in a capacity aligned with the intelligence and counter-terror work he was conducting before the row.