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Punjab: ASI among 4 Bathinda cops indicted for custodial torture, electric shocks
In his inquiry report, the Bathinda chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Prabhjot Bhatti has held the then senior supervisory officers of Bathinda police responsible“for grave dereliction of duty”
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A judicial inquiry into the cause of the unnatural death of 34-year-old tutor Narinderdeep Singh in May last year and to fix responsibility has indicted four members of the then crime investigation agency (CIA)-2 unit of Bathinda police for illegal detention and custodial torture.
In his inquiry report, the Bathinda chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Prabhjot Bhatti has held the then senior supervisory officers of Bathinda police responsible“for grave dereliction of duty.”
Narinderdeep, a resident of Goniana, near Bathinda, died under mysterious circumstances on May 23, 2025.
The CJM concluded the proceedings on September 1 and submitted the report to the Bathinda sessions judge early this month.
The four police personnel indicted are assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Avtar Singh alias Tari, head constables Lakhwinder Singh and Harwinder Singh and senior constable Gurpal Singh. A case under section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was registered in May 25 last year .
Although the medical board of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bathinda, attributed the cause of death to respiratory failure due to the combined effects of toxicity of opiates and benzodiazepines, a depressant drug, the judicial inquiry cited witness statements and injury marks on the deceased’s body to conclude that Narinderdeep had been physically tortured by the police personnel.
The report said that the chain of circumstances pointed to custodial torture and use of electric shocks on sensitive parts of the deceased’s body, including his head and penis, allegedly inflicted by CIA-2 staff shortly before his being brought dead to Shaheed Bhani Mani Singh Civil Hospital.
“This court, after taking into account the statements of the witnesses as well as documents, concludes that the illegal detention of the deceased, as proved from the statement of Gagandeep Singh as well as the multiple injuries upon the person of the deceased, would point out that before his death, he was tortured by the police officials while keeping him in illegal custody,” the 18-page report states.
Before the inquiry, the deceased’s family was told by his friend and eyewitness, Gagandeep Singh, that Narinderdeep died in a road accident. The family immediately questioned the claim after noticing visible signs of alleged physical torture on the body at the civil hospital.
Hours later, on May 24, 2025, Gagandeep went live on his Facebook page in a video on May 24 last year to allege that the deceased and he were tortured by a CIA team. He also claimed that cops forced him to narrate a false story to the deceased’s family that he died in a road accident.
The two were returning from Ferozepur after an unspecified financial transaction when the CIA staff intercepted them and questioned them about their alleged involvement in drug trafficking. Nothing was recovered from them, according to the case file.
The family grew suspicious of Gagandeep’s statement to the police, and subsequently a case was registered against the six persons, including four CIA staffers and the deceased’s friends Gagandeep and Happy Luthra.
Fact-finding reports cited medical evidence from AIIMS-Bathinda as corroborating the allegation of torture and electric shocks, and as undermining the claim of the victim’s death in a road traffic accident.
“The cumulative oral, medical and documentary evidence leads to a clear and compelling inference that the version of accidental death is false. The narrative of a road traffic accident or drug overdose is a false and contrived explanation advanced to shield the guilty,” the report states.
The judicial probe also held senior supervisory officers, including the then Bathinda senior superintendent of police (SSP) Amneet Kondal and then SP (investigation) Jasmeet Singh, were promptly informed on May 24, 2025, about allegations of custodial torture.
“Yet they (two officers) failed to ensure a prompt, impartial and independent investigation, failed to secure and immediately arrest the officials, and discouraged a higher-level or judicial inquiry. Accused evaded arrest while remaining absent from duty. Their dereliction has contributed materially to the continuation of impunity and amounts to serious administrative and supervisory misconduct warranting strict departmental action,” the report says.
Case timeline
May 23, 2025: Narinderdeep, 34, brought dead at Shaheed Bhai Mani Singh Civil Hospital, Bathinda
May 24: Deceased’s friend Gagandeep Singh alleges police torture led to his friend’s death
May 25: FIR lodged at Canal Colony police station under Section 105 of the BNS
Aug 8: Bathinda sessions judge marks a judicial probe
Sept 1, 2026: Bathinda CJM completes judicial probe, submits report indicting four cops, including ASI of crime investigation agency- 2
