Ludhiana: Four cops move sessions court against murder charge in custodial death case

The revision plea was moved before the court of additional sessions judge Jaspinder Singh against the December 17, 2025, order of judicial magistrate Parminder Kaur

The four policemen accused in the 2020 custodial death of Deepak Shukla have approached the sessions court through a revision petition, contesting a lower court order that directed framing of murder charges against them.

The court also observed that the circumstances surrounding the death appeared suspicious and required thorough examination of the role of the police officials. (HT File)

The revision plea was moved before the court of additional sessions judge Jaspinder Singh against the December 17, 2025, order of judicial magistrate Parminder Kaur. The sessions court took up the matter on Tuesday and adjourned the hearing to May 6 for detailed arguments, defence counsel HS Grewal said.

In her December 2025 order, the magistrate court had held that there were sufficient grounds to proceed against the accused under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC. The court also observed that the circumstances surrounding the death appeared suspicious and required thorough examination of the role of the police officials. The order was passed on a complaint filed by the victim’s father, Vinod Kumar Shukla.

The four accused—sub-inspector Richa Rani, then SHO of Division Number 5 police station; ASI Charanjit Singh, the then investigating officer; ASI Jaskaran Singh, then in-charge of Kochhar Market police post; and constable Jugnu—had earlier approached the sessions court seeking anticipatory bail. On March 6, the court granted them relief, with the condition that they would surrender before the trial court and be released on bail to its satisfaction.

During the proceedings, the defence argued that an FIR on similar allegations had already been registered against the policemen on August 14, 2020, under Sections 188 and 342 of the IPC, along with provisions of the Contempt of Courts Act. Although the police had filed a cancellation report in that case, it was rejected by the trial court, which instead summoned the accused to face trial under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

The defence further submitted that proceedings in the earlier FIR are currently stayed by the Punjab and Haryana high court following a revision petition. Taking note of these facts, the sessions court had earlier granted anticipatory bail, observing that the accused had already been summoned in the related case.

Deepak Shukla, 26, was arrested on February 22, 2020, by Division Number 5 police in connection with vehicle theft cases. He died on February 26 at Ludhiana Central Jail. His father has alleged that despite a court order for judicial remand on February 24, his son was kept in police custody for an additional day, during which he was allegedly tortured. He further claimed that when he met his son in jail, he found him in a critical condition with visible injuries and that Deepak later succumbed to his injuries