32 years on, 5 former Punjab Police officers convicted in fake encounter case

A CBI court in Mohali convicted five retired Punjab Police officers, including a former Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) for their involvement in two fake encounters in 1993 in Tarn Taran district.

Those who have been convicted are former Deputy Superintendent of Police Bhupinderjit Singh, who later retired as SSP, former assistant sub-inspector Davinder Singh, who retired as DSP, former assistant sub-inspector Gulbarg Singh, former Inspector Suba Singh and former ASI Raghbir Singh.

Seven men from Rani Vallah village, including four Special Police Officers (SPOs), were illegally picked up, tortured, and murdered by the police.

The officers were found guilty of criminal conspiracy, murder, destruction of evidence and fabrication of records under relevant IPC sections. They were taken into custody following the verdict, with sentencing scheduled soon.

The investigation by the CBI revealed that a police team, led by the then station house officer of Sirhali Police Station, Gurdev Singh, picked up SPOs Shinder Singh, Desa Singh, Sukhdev Singh and two others named Balkar Singh and Daljit Singh from the residence of a government contractor on June 27, 1993. The CBI investigations revealed that these individuals were falsely implicated in a robbery case.

Subsequently, on July 2, 1993, the Sarhali police registered a case against Shinder Singh, Desa Singh and Sukhdev Singh, alleging that they absconded along with government-issued weapons.

On July 12, 1993, a police team led by the then DSP Bhupinderjit Singh and then inspector Gurdev Singh claimed that while escorting a man named Mangal Singh to Gharka village for a recovery in the dacoity case, they were attacked by militants. In the ensuing crossfire, Mangal Singh, Desa Singh, Shinder Singh and Balkar Singh were killed.

However, forensic analysis of the seized weapons highlighted serious discrepancies and the post-mortem examination reports confirmed that the victims were tortured before their deaths, according to the probe.

Despite being identified in records, their bodies were cremated as unclaimed, the CBI investigation stated.

On July 28, 1993, three additional individuals, Sukhdev Singh, Sarabjit Singh and Harvinder Singh, were killed in a staged encounter involving a police team led by the then DSP Bhupinderjit Singh, the probe claimed.

The case was handed over to the CBI following a Supreme Court order on December 12, 1996, in connection with the mass cremation of unidentified bodies in Punjab. The CBI registered the case in 1999 based on the complaint filed by Narinder Kaur, the wife of Shinder Singh.

Five other accused police officials, the then inspector Gurdev Singh, the then sub-inspector Gian Chand, the then ASI Jagir Singh, and the then head constables Mohinder Singh and Aroor Singh, passed away during the trial.

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With inputs from PTI