1992 fake encounter in Amritsar: Former Punjab cop convicted of fabricating records

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Punjab’s Mohali to announce quantum of sentence in the case on November 3

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mohali convicted a former cop on Friday in the fake encounter case on the charges of fabricating records to facilitate the staged encounter of Amritsar resident Daljit Singh in December 1992 at Amritsar. The quantum of sentence in the case will be pronounced on November 3.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mohali to announce quantum of sentence in the case on November 3

The Special CBI judge Rakesh Kumar Gupta found Tarsem Lal, the then in-charge of the Crime Investigating Agency (CIA) in Majitha, guilty of an offence under section 218 (public servant framing incorrect records or writing with the intent to save a person from punishment or property from forfeiture) of the Indian Penal Code. The court acquitted the former station house officer (SHO) of Lopoke Dharam Singh. Two accused Swaran Singh and Avtar Singh died during the trial.

The four former cops were facing kidnapping and murder charges as well but were acquitted after the complainant and his family members turned hostile and gave testimony in favour of the accused police officers.

Counsel for the victims, Sarabjit Singh Verka stated that in the case related to the kidnapping, unlawful confinement, and subsequent killing of Daljit Singh, a resident of Khiala in Amritsar crucial evidence emerged in September 2023 when Jagir Singh, who was believed to have been killed alongside Daljit Singh, appeared before the court.

Jagir Singh’s testimony altered the entire course of the case raising questions about the identity of the deceased.

In 1994, Kashmir Singh, the father of Daljit Singh, filed a writ before the Punjab and Haryana high court alleging that he, along with his sons Baljit Singh and Rajwant Singh, were apprehended on December 13, 1992, from their residence by a police party led by Dharam Singh, the then SHO of Lopoke. They claimed that on their information, his third son, Daljit Singh, was apprehended from the residence of a relative in Navi Abadi, Amritsar.

According to the writ, while Kashmir Singh and his two sons were later released Daljit Singh was not released from the police custody. The writ demanded that Daljit be produced before the court. In response, the Majitha SSP and the Lopoke SHO denied the allegations of kidnapping and abduction.

In 1996, the high court ordered a judicial inquiry by the district and sessions judge of Amritsar, during which it was revealed that the police had reported Daljit Singh and Jagir Singh, son of Thakur Singh, as being killed in an encounter on December 29, 1992.

The judicial inquiry found Kashmir Singh’s allegations to be true and recommended an independent investigation. However, in 1995, the apex court ordered a CBI inquiry into the cremation of numerous unclaimed dead bodies.

“In 1997, the CBI registered a case based on the complaint of Kashmir Singh and in 2001, filed a chargesheet against Dharam Singh, Tarsem Singh, Swaran Singh, and Avtar Singh on the charges of kidnapping, illegal confinement, murder, and fabrication of evidence. The trial in this case remained stayed until 2016 due to petitions filed by the accused before the higher courts. Finally, today, CBI court Gupta pronounced the judgment. Seventeen witnesses provided their statements during the trial, and eight of them passed away during the proceedings,” Verka said.