Ludhiana, June 14
“Please ask them (police) to hang me or give me death. I can’t tolerate more torture.” pleaded B.I.S. Chahal during a hearing in the attempt to murder and land grab cases in a local court, which sent him to
judicial custody till June 27, in central jail here today. He said death was better than the humiliation.
Chahal alleged his legs were pulled apart, besides giving electric shocks to his private parts by officials of the Vigilance Bureau. He added that SSP (Vigilance) Kanwarjit Singh Sandhu, and SP Surjit Singh Garewal tortured him, while he was slapped by an ASI and his hair pulled. However, Sandhu refuted the allegations.
R.K. Jaiswal, SSP, Ludhiana, has also denied the allegations. He told The Tribune that Chahal was treated well and no force was used against him or the co-accused. He said the police had got him specially examined by a board of doctors and there was neither any serious ailment nor any injury reported during the examination.
Duty magistrate Tarsem Mangla declined the request of the prosecution to extend the police remand of Chahal and his other relatives. The police did not sought police remand for Kartar Singh Garewal and Harbhajan Singh.
Additional public prosecutors M.L. Solanki, A.S. Chadha and Sukhchain Singh had sought the extension of police remand on the plea that the police wanted to recover a JCB machine and besides, other co-accused were still to be arrested.
The duty magistrate also declined the request of Patiala police to hand it the custody of Chahal in a case registered against him in Patiala. A team of police officials headed by SP M.S. Sidhu, along with two DSPs and other police officials, had reached here to get permission for taking Chahal to Patiala.
