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PO’s ‘kidnapping’: Punjab IGP Gautam Cheema, 5 others get 8-month jail for conspiracy
The court held Cheema, a 1995-batch IPS officer, Ajay Choudhary, suspended chief executive officer of the Ambala Cantonment Board, Rashmi Negi, Vicky Verma, Aryan Singh, and Varun Utreja guilty of criminal conspiracy and obstructing a public servant in the discharge of public functions but acquitted them of charges of kidnapping, criminal conspiracy and house trespass
A special CBI court on Friday convicted Punjab’s inspector general of police (IGP) Gautam Cheema, along with five others, sentencing them to eight months of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for criminal conspiracy in a case pertaining to kidnapping of proclaimed offender Sumedh Gulati in 2014.
The court held Cheema, a 1995-batch IPS officer, Ajay Choudhary, suspended chief executive officer of the Ambala Cantonment Board, Rashmi Negi, Vicky Verma, Aryan Singh, and Varun Utreja guilty of criminal conspiracy and obstructing a public servant in the discharge of public functions but acquitted them of charges of kidnapping, criminal conspiracy and house trespass.
The court of special CBI judge, Mohali, Megha Dhaliwal, has granted bail to all six to file an appeal in the Punjab and Haryana high court.
The case pertains to the abduction of Sumedh Gulati, who was allegedly taken from the Phase 1 police station to a hospital. Gulati was a co-accused, with realtor Devinder Gill, in a fraud case.
Gill and his wife Kricpy Khera had alleged that IGP Cheema had orchestrated false cases against them following a dispute over profit-sharing in a joint property venture.
CBI public prosecutor Lisa Grover said the court sentenced the accused to eight months under Section 225 (resistance or obstruction to lawful apprehension of another person) of the IPC, along with a fine of ₹5,000 each; three months under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) with a fine of ₹1,000 each; and three months under Section 186 (obstructing a public servant in the discharge of public functions) with a fine of ₹500 each.
The case was registered in 2014, and charges were framed in 2022 under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 452, 323, 365, 342 (wrongful confinement), 225 (resistance or obstruction to lawful apprehension of another person), 186 (voluntarily obstructing any public servant), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Cheema’s lawyer Tarminder Singh said the CBI court acquitted the IGP and others of charges under Sections 365 (kidnapping or abduction), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 452 (house trespass with the intent to cause harm, assault, or wrongful restraint) due to insufficient evidence provided by the prosecution. “It was a false case against Cheema, and we successfully proved the CBI wrong during the trial, convincing the court to acquit him of kidnapping, voluntarily causing hurt, criminal intimidation, and house-trespass charges,” said Tarminder Singh.
