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1993 fake encounter: CBI court awards life term to former DSP, 7-yr jail to ex-DIG
The bench presided by Judge RK Gupta also imposed fines of ₹3.75 lakh on the two convicts, revealed the victim’s counsel Sarabjeet Singh Verka.
Over three decades after a 21-year-old man was killed in a fake encounter in Tarn Taran, a special CBI court sentenced former Punjab Police DIG Dilbagh Singh to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and former DSP Gurbachan Singh to life-term.
The bench presided by Judge RK Gupta also imposed fines of ₹3.75 lakh on the two convicts, revealed the victim’s counsel Sarabjeet Singh Verka.
The victim, Gulshan Kumar, had been abducted by a police party on June 22, 1993, and killed in a fake encounter on July 7, 1993. The police team was led by Dilbagh Singh, the then DSP of Tarn Taran, as per the testimony of the victim’s father Chaman Lal.
Lal further testified that his son’s body was cremated by the police on July 22, 1993, without the knowledge of the family.
In compliance with Supreme Court of India’s orders, dated November 15, 1995, passed in a criminal writ directing the CBI to investigate the cremation of a large number of unidentified bodies by the Punjab Police, the CBI registered a case against Dilbagh Singh and four others on February 28, 1997.
After completion of investigation, a chargesheet was filed against Dilbagh Singh, then inspector Gurbachan Singh, then ASI Arjun Singh (deceased during the trial), then ASI Devinder Singh (deceased during the trial), and then SI Balbir Singh (deceased during the trial) on May 7, 1999. The charges were framed on February 7, 2000.
The CBI examined 32 witnesses in all. During trial, cogent evidence from eyewitnesses proved that the accused persons had abducted Gulshan Kumar from his house on June 22, 1993, kept him in illegal detention/confinement, and subsequently killed him on July 22, 1993. The evidence presented showed that the accused police officers staged the murder as an encounter, with testimonies and documents proving the false narratives created by the cops.
Following the trial, the court found both accused guilty and sentenced former DSP Gurcharan Singh to life under Section 302 (murder) with a fine of ₹2 lakh, seven years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) under Section 364 (abduction) with a fine of ₹50,000, four years of RI under Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) with a fine of ₹50,000, and two years of RI under Section 218 (preparation of false record by a public servant) with a fine of ₹25,000, totalling ₹3.25 lakh. Former DIG Dilbagh Singh was sentenced to seven years under Section 364 (abduction) with a fine of ₹50,000.
The court ordered that a compensation of ₹2 lakh be awarded to the family of the victim from the fines collected from the convicts.
