The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday denied allegations that the Bhagwant Mann government had signed any file related to the premature release of convicts in the Jaswant Singh Khalra murder case.
Dismissing the claims as a “pack of lies”, AAP Punjab media in-charge Baltej Pannu said the proposal for premature release was first sent during the Congress government, while the present government signed no such file. He pointed out that since the case was investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the entire process falls under the jurisdiction of the Union home ministry and no proposal is pending either with the Punjab government or the governor.
Addressing a press conference, Pannu said one of the principal convicts in the Jaswant Singh Khalra case was former DSP Jaspal Singh. “Since morning, a false narrative has been spread claiming that the Punjab government has moved a file seeking his premature release and that the file has been signed by chief minister Bhagwant Mann and is presently lying with the governor.” He said there were eight convicts in this case and four of them have since died. “The surviving convicts are Jaspal Singh, Satnam Singh, Surinder Singh and Jasbir Singh. Among them, Jaspal Singh was the senior-most officer as he was a DSP, while the others served under him,” he said.
The AAP spokesperson said that Jaspal Singh was convicted by the sessions court on November 18, 2005, under Sections 120-B, 364, 302 and 201 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. The other accused, Satnam Singh, Surinder Singh and Jasbir Singh, were also convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Jaspal was lodged in the Nabha jail, Satnam Singh and Surinder Singh were lodged in the district jail at Barnala, while Jasbir Singh was lodged in the central jail at Amritsar. “This case was investigated by the CBI. Since it is a CBI case, the procedure governing premature release is different from ordinary criminal cases,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}The AAP spokesperson said that Jaspal Singh was convicted by the sessions court on November 18, 2005, under Sections 120-B, 364, 302 and 201 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. The other accused, Satnam Singh, Surinder Singh and Jasbir Singh, were also convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Jaspal was lodged in the Nabha jail, Satnam Singh and Surinder Singh were lodged in the district jail at Barnala, while Jasbir Singh was lodged in the central jail at Amritsar. “This case was investigated by the CBI. Since it is a CBI case, the procedure governing premature release is different from ordinary criminal cases,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}Pannu said that under Section 477 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, corresponding to Section 435 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the power to consider premature release in cases investigated by the CBI does not rest with the state government. “The state government cannot independently order the premature release of such convicts. The competent authority is the Union ministry of home affairs. Jaspal submitted an application for premature release to the ministry of home affairs in 2017. The ministry considered that application and rejected it in 2018,” he pointed out.
He said that after the home ministry rejected the application, the matter also came before the governor and since the ministry had already declined the request, the governor could not have taken a different view. Accordingly, the application was rejected by the governor as well in August 2018. “In 2019, the director general of police forwarded another recommendation. Since this too related to a CBI case, the matter again had to be referred to the ministry of home affairs. With the approval of the governor, the proposal was forwarded to the ministry on April 1, 2019,” he added.
Pannu said the cases relating to the other surviving co-convicts, namely Satnam Singh, Surinder Singh and Jasbir Singh, also came up for consideration regarding premature release before the home ministry but it rejected those applications in March 2023.
“The matter was referred once again to the home ministry in October 2023. Since then, no application has been returned by the home ministry to the Punjab government. The state government has received no proposal from the Union ministry for consideration,” he said, refuting the allegations.