Rape, graft case: HC denies bail to former Gurdaspur SP Salwinder
Former Gurdaspur superintendent of police (SP) Salwinder Singh, accused of faking his kidnapping during the terror attack on the Pathankot airbase in January, was denied anticipatory bail by the Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday in a rape-and-corruption case registered on August 3.
Former Gurdaspur superintendent of police (SP) Salwinder Singh, accused of faking his kidnapping during the terror attack on the Pathankot airbase in January, was denied anticipatory bail by the Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday in a rape-and-corruption case registered on August 3.
Salwinder Singh is accused of exploiting a woman physically and seeking Rs 50,000, both for dropping rape charges against her husband. The SP denied the allegations and submitted that the woman had been changing her statement.
The woman’s husband made the complaint in Gurdaspur two years ago. In August, the SP was booked under Section 376-C (rape by a public servant after taking advantage of his official position) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act. The charges were investigated twice after being reported to chief minister Parkash Singh Badal during a sangat darshan (public contact) programme in 2014. Salwinder Singh received a clean chit in the first inquiry but the Pathankot SP found him guilty in the next.
Punjab additional advocate general Aditya Sanghi submitted in the court on Friday that the woman had reiterated the allegations before a judicial magistrate and, if let off on bail, the SP could tamper with evidence. He produced a transcript of the telephone conversation between the SP and the woman, in which he is “demanding the bribe”.
Now assistant commandant of the 75th battalion of Punjab Armed Police (PAP), the officer has told National Investigation Agency that Pakistani terrorists took over his car and kidnapped him along with his cook and a jeweller friend before they raided the airbase in January.