E-Paper
Abduction, wrongful confinement: Non-bailable warrants issued against seven Bathinda cops
In an order, judicial magistrate Kuldeep Singh took serious note that accused cops skipped a court appearance even as summons were issued through the SP (headquarters) on Sep 13.
A district court has issued a non-bailable warrant against seven police personnel in a case of alleged abduction and wrongful confinement of a resident here in 2018 and directed the Bathinda senior superintendent of police (SSP) to ensure the effective execution of the order.
In an order passed on Monday, judicial magistrate Kuldeep Singh took serious note that the accused cops skipped a court appearance even as the summons were issued through the SP (headquarters) on September 13.
“This court finds that in the given scenario, the appearance of all the accused cannot be procured without the issuance of non-bailable warrants of arrest,” reads the order directing the accused cops to appear on Wednesday.
A team of crime investigation agency (CIA) staff of the district police namely- assistant sub-inspectors Kirpal Singh, Kulwinder Singh, Inderjit Singh, head constable Ranjan Kumar and constables Gagandeep Singh, Amrik Singh and Kulwinder Singh were required to appear after allegations of implicating a person Amandeep Singh in NDPS Act were levelled.
On June 8, 2018, the CIA staff arrested Amandeep, Rakesh Kumar and Parvesh Kumar with 24 vials of cough syrup and musculoskeletal pain relief tablets that are abused by the drug addicts.
A case was registered at Canal police station, in which it was stated that Amandeep and two others were held when they were found sitting near a canal near the thermal power plant.
As per the FIR, the three were arrested at around 3 pm on June 8, 2018, during an ongoing drive against drug pedalling. However, Amandeep’s brother Gagandeep Singh contested the police version and filed a complaint against the cops.
He claimed that Amandeep was picked up by the police personnel from their residence at Amrik Singh road locality in the city at around 6.30 am on June 8, 2018, and he was shown arrested after 8 hours from some other place.
To buttress his claim, Gagandeep produced CCTV footage secured from a private school located near his residence that was considered as evidence by the court on September 13 this year.
The court of judicial magistrate Kuldeep Singh had stated that the record shows that a person wearing a black T-shirt was taken away in their car by four persons, one of them having an assault rifle at 6.40 am on June 8, 2018.
“The fact that persons in civil dresses reflected in CCTV footage were having an assault rifle which can be available only with police persons, furnishes sufficient ground to believe that the persons who took away Amandeep Singh were police officials. The respondents did not explain the custody of brother of the complainant from 6.40 am to 3 pm in police register,” stated the court. Amandeep was granted regular bail by the Punjab and Haryana high court on November 26, 2019.
