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2007 Moga sex scandal: Former SSP, ex-SP sentenced to five years in jail
CBI special judge, Mohali, Rakesh Kumar Gupta pronounced the verdict after convicting Garcha, Sandhu, then Moga city SHO Raman Kumar and then inspector Amarjit Singh,72, under Sections 13(1)(d) and 13(2) of the PC Act on March 29, 2007.
Eighteen years after the Moga sex scandal made headlines, a special CBI court in Mohali on Monday awarded five years’ rigorous imprisonment to former senior superintendent of police Devinder Singh Garcha,73, and then superintendent of police (headquarters) Paramdip Singh Sandhu, 62.
CBI special judge, Mohali, Rakesh Kumar Gupta pronounced the verdict after convicting Garcha, Sandhu, then Moga city SHO Raman Kumar and then inspector Amarjit Singh,72, under Sections 13(1)(d) and 13(2) of the PC Act on March 29, 2007.
Raman Kumar, 61, who was also convicted under Section 384 (extortion) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), was awarded eight-year imprisonment by the court, while Amarjit Singh was held guilty under Sections 384 and 511 (attempt to extort) and sentenced to a total of six years and six months in jail.
While the former SSP, who is also an Olympian and member of the Indian hockey team which won gold in the 1980 Moscow Olympics and SP will pay ₹2 lakh as a fine, the court imposed a penalty of ₹3 lakh on Raman Kumar and ₹2.5 lakh fine on Amarjit Singh.
The CBI court acquitted Barjinder Singh, alias Makhan, the son of former Punjab minister Tota Singh and Sukhraj Singh, of all the charges.
Pleading leniency, Garcha submitted that he is a first-time offender, an asthmatic and diabetic patient. He added that he is also an Olympian.
Former SP Sandhu submitted that his 89-year-old mother suffered a fatal head injury and underwent brain surgery for a clot in the brain. He further contended that his wife is suffering from chronic illness schizophrenia and his father served in the Indian Army and earned a gallantry award during the 1965 Indo-Pak War, while his grandfather was also honoured with the President’s Medal.
Both Raman Kumar and Amarjit Singh claimed to be suffering from serious ailments, pleading leniency.
CBI public prosecutor Anmol Narang sought maximum punishment and averred that the convicts were protectors of the law and bound to safeguard the legal rights of the hapless girl, but they used her as a shield to earn easy money and take bribes from the people for their gains
punishment.
The court denying leniency to the convicts observed: “The facts of the case are peculiar in nature where the convicts who were holding highest/important positions in police and bound to protect the rights of the citizens viz-a-viz, a juvenile girl, but they used her to extract money from the people for their personal gains which nefarious acts, on their part, only suggest that they should not be dealt with leniency”.
In the 2009 challan, CBI framed charges against Barjinder Singh, SSP Garcha, SP Sandhu, Raman Kumar, and Amarjit Singh, besides Manjit Kaur, Sukhraj Singh, Karamjit Singh Bath and Ranbir Singh. The juvenile girl is facing trial in the juvenile court.
CBI investigation concluded that the accused being public servants abused their official positions and entered into a criminal conspiracy to obtain undue pecuniary gain for themselves by corrupt and illegal means and in pursuance thereof registered false FIR 82 dated April 18, 2007, under sections 366, 406, 420, 506, 344, 376, 34 of the IPC at Police station City-I, Moga against the innocent persons and later on implicated some other persons to extract illegal gratification from them for excluding their names based on affidavits sworn by so-called minor victim/complainant.
Manjit Kaur along with advocates Bath and Ranbir, turned approver in the case. In 2018, Manjit Kaur, along with her husband Rajpreet Singh, were murdered in Zira.
As per the challan, two women, including a juvenile and Manjit Kaur, in connivance with the police officers and Barjinder extorted money from influential people by threatening to frame them in sexual abuse cases if they refused to pay up. Several prominent businessmen of Moga were blackmailed.
The case came to light when on June 7, 2007, Ranjit Singh of Bhagike village in Moga complained to the additional director general of police (law and order), alleging that the then SHO Amarjit Singh demanded a bribe of ₹50,000 from him over the phone and threatened that in case of non-payment, his name would be included in a rape case registered on the complaint of the minor girl.
The complainant, along with others, was later booked in another FIR dated June 4, 2007, under sections 323, 342, 506 and 149 of the IPC at Baghapurana police station on the complaint of the minor girl.
Ranjit Singh’s complaint was marked to DSP, Baghapurana, for an inquiry following which FIR dated October 24, 2007, was registered against the then inspector Amarjit Singh, Manjit Kaur and a female juvenile under sections of PC Act and 384, 211 and 120-B of the IPC.
After the Punjab and Haryana high court’s order, the CBI took over the case and registered a fresh FIR on December 12, 2007, following which the convicts were arrested.
