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Former Youth Akali Dal leader, cousin get life term in 2016 abduction, ₹1 crore ransom case
Mansa additional sessions judge who pronounced the judgment, also imposes a penalty of ₹50,000 on the convicts
Former Youth Akali Dal (YAD) Malwa region general secretary Kalyan Singh and his cousin Gurpreet Singh were sentenced to life imprisonment in a case of abduction and ransom of ₹1 crore.
Mansa additional sessions judge Dinesh Kumar, who pronounced the judgment, also imposed a penalty of ₹50,000 on the convicts.
The two were arrested in October 2016.
The judge took a lenient view on the conviction of Kalyan’s son and ordered to release him on probation. He was found guilty under the Arms Act as his licensed weapon was in the possession of Kalyan.
Kalyan’s father late Sukhchain Singh Dharampura was Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) member from Mansa district and considered close to the Badal family.
The case relates to the abduction of Chiman Lal Bansal, a factory owner from Mansa’s Budladha town, on August 5, 2016. Bansal, who was held captive for 15 days in a dungeon near a college run by Dharampura’s family at their native village, was released at Rozawala village in Haryana’s adjoining Sirsa district after ransom was paid.
Mansa district attorney Harvinder Singh said the police had recovered about ₹79 lakh from the abductors.
Court questions investigating officer’s role
The additional sessions judge took a strong exception to the investigation and conduct of one of the investigating officers (IO), Balwant Singh, the then Budladha Sadar station house officer.
The court asked the Mansa senior superintendent of police (SSP) to conduct a thorough probe into Balwant’s role in the abduction.
“He (Balwant) was using his official number on a newly purchased mobile, which was bought in the name of (convict) Kalyan. He was exonerated in the inquiry without giving any concrete reason. The police official failed to give any reason or explanation for using his official number on a mobile phone purchased by third party,” read the 118-page judgment.
The court observed that a professional conduct on part of the police may have led to the early release of Bansal.
“There is no doubt that IO has made serious lapses by not collecting the call detail records of the SIMs used by Chiman Lal and his family members from August 8 to 20. The call location could have helped the police to locate the victim who could be rescued immediately. The next flaw in the investigation is that (victim’s brother) Surinder Kumar Bansal produced a DVD having recording of the conversation between the abductors and family members of Chiman Lal. But the DVD was not sent for forensic test for ascertaining its authenticity,” it added.
Also, the judge expressed surprise over the fact that the police did not initiate proceedings against the abductors under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) even as at a huge amount of foreign currency was seized from them.
