A special CBI court has convicted two former police personnel in a case related to the fake encounter of two people in 1992 in Amritsar district of Punjab. The convicts include Purushottam Singh, the then SHO Majitha and SI Gurbhinder Singh. They have been convicted on charges of murder and conspiracy. The sentence to the convicts will be pronounced on February 4. While Inspector Chaman Lal and DSP SS Sidhu were acquitted giving the benefit of doubt.
However, at that time it was claimed by senior police officers that the two were hardcore terrorists, who were declared Imams. They were involved in hundreds of cases of murder, extortion, robbery etc. Harbhajan Singh alias Shindi i.e. the murder of the son of the then cabinet minister Gurmeet Singh in the Beant Singh government of Punjab was also involved. However, in reality one of them was an army jawan and the other was a 16-year-old minor.
Investigation started on the orders of the Supreme Court
The CBI started investigating this case in 1995 on the orders of the Supreme Court. CBI investigation revealed that Baldev Singh alias Deba was picked up from his house in village Basarke Bhaini on 6 August 1992 by a police party led by SI Mohinder Singh and Harbhajan Singh, then SHO PS Chharta.
Similarly, Lakhwinder Singh alias Lakha Ford resident of village Sultanwind was also apprehended from his rented house in Preet Nagar Amritsar on 12 September 1992 along with a person named Kulwant Singh by a police party led by SI Gurbhinder Singh, then SHO PS Majitha, but Kulwant Singh was later released.
The soldier had come home on leave
Army jawan Baldev Singh Deva of Bhaini Baskar of Amritsar district was taken into custody by the police when he was on leave. After this, he was killed by showing a fake police encounter. The second case was related to the murder of 16-year-old minor Lakhwinder Singh. He was also killed in the same way after being kidnapped from his house.
But after this, no trace of him could be found. For a long time, the family members kept searching for him. They fought the case till the court. After this, the Supreme Court had banned the investigation of these cases.
Police story turned out to be false in CBI investigation
During the investigation, CBI found that the police of Police Station Chheharta falsely implicated Deba and Lakha in the murder case of the minister’s son. Whose murder took place on 23.7.1992 and after that on 12.9.1992, Chheharta Police showed the arrest of Baldev Singh alias Deba in that murder case and on 13.9.1992 both were killed and the police fabricated the story that an encounter took place with the terrorists while taking Baldev Singh alias Deba near village Sansara for recovery of arms and ammunition.
In this, Baldev Singh alias Deba and an attacker, later identified as Lakhwinder Singh alias Lakha alias Ford, were killed. The CBI concluded that both were picked up, kept in illegal custody and then killed in a fake encounter.
Postmortem also exposed the falsehood of the police
The CBI also found that there was no entry in the log book about the visit of police vehicles to the alleged encounter shown by the police. Even the police showed that the unidentified attacker terrorist killed during the encounter was identified by the injured Baldev Singh Deba. However, as per the postmortem report of Deba he had died immediately, so the plea of identification by him does not arise.
Out of 32 witnesses, 19 have died
On 30.8.1999, CBI filed a chargesheet against SS Sidhu, Harbhajan Singh, Mohinder Singh, Purushottam Lal, Chaman Lal, Gurbinder Singh, Mohan Singh, Purushottam Singh and Jassa Singh for kidnapping, criminal conspiracy, murder, framing false records. But the statements of the witnesses were recorded after 2022. Because during this period the case remained adjourned on the orders of the High Courts.
Sarabjit Singh Verka, counsel for the victim’s family, said that although the CBI had cited 37 witnesses in the case, statements of only 19 witnesses have been recorded during the trial as most of the witnesses cited by the CBI had died during the delayed trial and finally justice has been delivered 32 years after the incident.
Similarly during this delayed trial, accused Harbhajan Singh, Mohinder Singh, Purushottam Lal, Mohan Singh and Jassa Singh also died and accused SS Sidhu then DSP, Amritsar, Chaman Lal then CIA Incharge, Amritsar, Gurbhinder Singh then SHO PS Majitha and ASI Purushottam Singh faced trial in this case.
