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Mohali CBI court sentences ex-cop to 10-year jail in 1991 kidnapping case
A CBI court in Mohali on Monday sentenced a former Punjab Police inspector, Major Singh (77), to 10-year rigorous imprisonment for being convicted in a case of kidnapping, illegal confinement of PSEB employee
A Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) court in Mohali on Monday sentenced a former Punjab Police inspector, Major Singh (77), to 10-year rigorous imprisonment for being convicted in a case of kidnapping, illegal confinement and disappearance of Santokh Singh, a Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) employee, in a case pertaining to 1991 in Tarn Taran.
The CBI special judge, Harinder Sidhu sentenced Major Singh to 10-year jail under Section 364 of the IPC and also fined him ₹70,000.
Santokh’s family members requested the court to grant compensation and the court marked the file to the District Legal Services Authority, said CBI public prosecutor Gurvinder Singh.
The counsel for the victim’s family, advocate Sarabjit Singh Verka said in July 1991, then SHO Tarn Taran police station (Sadar) Major Singh detained Santokh for questioning at the police station.
The family members of the victim alleged that later Major Singh denied Santokh being in his custody and in 1996, Santokh’s mother Swaran Kaur
filed a case in the Punjab and Haryana high court, following which a CBI inquiry was marked.
Later in 1997, the CBI registered a case against Major Singh. During the trial, statements of 28 witnesses were recorded, and finally, after 30 years, Major Singh was convicted by the CBI Court.
Swaran Kaur, who was an eyewitness to the kidnapping and illegal confinement of her son, said, “Though it took 30 years for the judgment, I am satisfied that the guilty is punished.”
