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Punjab: Ex-Patti SHO gets life term in 1993 fake encounter case
The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mohali on Thursday awarded life sentence to then station house officer (SHO) of Patti police station, who was held guilty of killing two persons in a fake encounter in the Bhagupura area of Patti in 1993
Mohali : The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mohali on Thursday awarded life sentence to then station house officer (SHO) of Patti police station, who was held guilty of killing two persons in a fake encounter in the Bhagupura area of Patti in 1993.
The CBI special court of Rakesh Kumar Gupta on Monday had convicted Sita Ram, 80, then Patti SHO, and constable Raj Pal, 57, then posted at the same police station.
Sita Ram was convicted under Section 302 (murder), 201 (act of destroying evidence of a crime or giving false information to shield an offender) and 218 (a public servant who intentionally creates an incorrect record or writing) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Rajpal was convicted under Sections 201 and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.
While the court awarded life imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹2.7 lakh on Sita Ram, Raj Pal was sentenced to five-year in jail and was told to pay a fine of ₹50,000.
Counsel for the victims’ families Sarabjit Singh Verka said that ₹1.5 lakh each compensation was awarded to the families of deceased Sukhwant Singh and Gurdev Singh to be paid out of fine.
Anmol Narang, public prosecutor for the CBI, averred that the accused police officers staged a planned and cold-blooded murder and wrongly projected it to be a legitimate encounter by manipulating police files.
Sita Ram was earlier convicted in another 1993 fake encounter case but was later acquitted by the Punjab and Haryana high court on March 17, 2009.
Sarabjit Singh Verka added that Sita Ram was also awarded five-year rigorous jail in 2014 in a disappearance case of a nephew of Shaheed Bhagat Singh.
The CBI court in the present case on Monday had acquitted five accused, including Kashmira Singh Gill, the then DSP who retired as AIG, by giving benefit of doubt.
A total of 11 police officials were charged for kidnapping, illegal confinement and murder but four suspects died during trial.
The CBI had conducted an investigation in this case on the basis of orders of the apex court passed in 1995. Initially, the CBI conducted a preliminary inquiry and recorded the statement of one Gian Singh on November 27, 1996. The prime investigating agency eventually registered a case in February 1997 at Jammu against ASI Norang Singh and others of police post, Kairon, and police station, Patti.
The case
On January 30, 1993, Gurdev Singh, alias Deba, of Galalipur, Tarn Taran, was picked from his residence by a police party headed by ASI Norang Singh, in-charge of police post, Kairon, Tarn Taran.
It was alleged that on February 5,1993, another man Sukhwant Singh was picked by a police party headed by ASI Didar Singh of police station, Patti, from his residence at Bahmniwala village, Tarn Taran.
Both the victims were shown as killed in an encounter on February 6, 1993, in Bhagupura and a case was registered at the Patti police station by concocting a story of encounter.
Bodies of both the deceased were cremated unclaimed and were not handed over to the families.
“It was claimed by the police at that time that both were involved in 300 cases of murder and extortion besides other criminal cases. During the CBI investigation, this fact was found incorrect,” Verka said.
Post investigation, the CBI filed a chargesheet on January 18, 2000, against 11 police officials of Tarn Taran, including Norang Singh, ASI Deedar Singh, Kashmir Singh the then DSP, Patti, Sita Ram, the then SHO Patti Darshan Singh, Gobinder Singh, the then SHO Valtoha, ASI Shamir Singh, ASI Fakir Singh, and constables Sardool Singh, Rajpal and Amarjit Singh.
Four of the accused, including Sardool Singh, Amarjit Singh, Didar Singh and Sameer Singh, died during the trial.
