Behbal Kalan police firing: Advocate who aided cops in fabricating evidence against protesters held

SIT has claimed that to fabricate false evidence against the peaceful protesters, former Moga SSP’s escort vehicle was taken to the advocate’s house in Faridkot, where Fazilka SP and a car dealer had fired on it to make bullet marks

The special investigation team (SIT) probing the 2015 police firings on people protesting the Bargari sacrilege in Faridkot have arrested the advocate who allegedly aided in making fabricated bullet marks on the escort vehicle of Charanjit Singh Sharma, former Moga senior superintendent of police and an accused in the Behbal Kalan case.

Two youths had died in police firing at Behbal Kalan, Faridkot, on October 14, 2015, while protesting against the Bargari sacrilege. Police had also opened fire on protesters at Kotkapura, leaving many injured, the same day. (HT File Photo)

It is the first arrest made since inspector general of police Paramraj Singh Umranangal was held in the Kotkapura firing case on Feb 19, 2020, and second in the Behbal Kalan firing after the SIT held Sharma in January last year.

Inspector general of police Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, who is a senior member of the SIT and recently took charge of the Behbal Kalan inquiry in addition to the Kotkapura case that he had been probing, said Sohali Singh Brar, a Faridkot-based lawyer, was arrested on Tuesday and will be produced in court on Wednesday.

Two youths had died in police firing at Behbal Kalan on October 14, 2015, while protesting against the desecration of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari on October 12. Police had also opened fire on protesters at Kotkapura, leaving many injured, the same day.

The SIT in its probe found that Charanjit Sharma conspired with three other police officers — Fazilka superintendent of police Bikramjit Singh, inspector Pardip Singh and sub-inspector Amarjit Singh Kular — to cover up facts related to the Behbal Kalan firing.

SIT has claimed that to fabricate false evidence against the peaceful protesters, Charanjit’s escort Maruti Gypsy was taken to the advocate’s house, where Bikramjit and a car dealer had fired on it to make bullet marks. The same day, Kular, who was the Bajakhana station house officer, recorded the statements of Sharma, Bikramjit and Pardip Singh among others, in which they claimed that police fired in self-defence after protestors attacked them.

According to the SIT, Sharma’s driver Gurnam Singh, who was behind the wheel in the escort vehicle, has confessed that protesters had fired no shot on the Gypsy.

A case was registered against the unknown cops under Section 302 (murder) and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code on October 21, 2017. Names of the four cops, including Sharma, were added in the FIR on August 11, 2018.

Even as the SIT filed a challan againt Sharma in April 2019, the remaining three cops, who are out on bail, have not been chargesheeted yet.