Chandigarh: A CBI court in Mohali on Monday sentenced five retired Punjab police officers including a senior superintendent of police (SSP) and a deputy superintendent of police (DSP), to rigorous life imprisonment in a 32-year old case of fake encounter of seven persons in Tarn Taran district, describing their conduct ``morally bankrupt and profoundly inhumane’’.
They included former SSP Bhupinderjit Singh, former DSP Devinder Singh, former inspector Suba Singh and former assistant sub-inspectors Gulbarg Singh and Raghubir Singh. They have also been slapped Rs 3.5 lakh fine each for criminal conspiracy, murder, destruction of evidence and forgery.
The fine would be given to the families of the deceased as compensation, said the court which found the accused guilty of staging two encounters in the July 1993, where the victims, including three special police officers (SPOs) Shinder Singh, Desa Singh and Sukhdev Singh were illegally picked up, tortured and then shown as killed in encounters and cremated as unknown. For record, SPOs were individuals appointed to assist police force in Punjab during militancy for security purposes and to maintain peace.
The CBI counsel Anmol Narang said that ``it was a case where cops killed the cops in two encounters on the suspicion of a robbery and then cremated them as unknown and unclaimed and that all the seven victims – all in the age group of 20 to 25 years – were closely related to each other.
The CBI filed its chargesheet against Bhupinder Singh, DSP, inspector Gurdev Singh, SHO, Gian Chand, ASIs Devinder Singh and Gulbarg Singh, Inspector Suba Singh, SHO, ASI, Jagir Singh, ASI, Raghubir Singh, head constables Mohinder Singh and Aroor Singh, but the trial of the case remained stayed from 2010 till 2021 during when five accused died.
The then DSP Bhupinder Singh had later retired as SSP, the then ASI Devinder Singh, who retired as DSP, the then ASI Gulbarg Singh, the then inspector Suba Singh and the then Raghbir Singh have been sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment.
The other five accused, namely the then inspector Gurdev Singh, the then SI Gian Chand, the then ASI Jagir Singh and the then head constables Mohinder Singh and Aroor Singh had passed away during the trial.
