Duty officer burnt important evidence

Tribune News Service

Mohali, July 22

A ‘responsible’ duty officer of the Mohali police destroyed important evidence, the blood-stained clothes and slippers, in the Aikom murder case apprehending that those could cause a religious issue or hurt religious sentiments.

In his statement, which is attached with the charge sheet of the case, the duty officer of Phase 8 police station, Sulakhan Singh, said he burnt the plastic bag, containing blood-stained clothes and slippers, to avoid any religious controversy.

According to the police investigation, the plastic bag was allegedly left by Seerat Kaur, the victim’s wife, in front of the local gurdwara the next morning after the incident.

‘The bag was lying under a tree in the parking lot of Gurdwara Amb Sahib. During its search, we found blood-stained clothes and slippers. I was under doubt that some mischievous element had put some animal’s blood on the clothes and slippers and dumped them there. To avoid any religious controversy, I burnt the bag," says the duty officer in his statement.

Now, the police have ash of the evidence, which they have sent for forensic investigation. The charge sheet also indicates that after leaving the bag on the gurdwara premises, Seerat had gone to the local salon to get her hair washed. The police have attached three witnesses in this regard. The witnesses state that she was quite normal when she came to the salon. She also made a call to someone from the mobile of the salon’s worker, Kamlesh Kumar. "On the phone, she (Seerat) was asking a person to take along the children and some other things," state the salon owner, Sachin Kumar, and two workers, Kamlesh Kumar and Parul Rani.

The other important witnesses in the charge sheet included the couple’s 11-year-old son Gurniwaz Singh Dhillon, Aikom’s father Jaspal Singh, brother Darshan Singh, auto-rickshaw driver Tul Bahadur, the gurdwara sewadars and manager.

In his statement, Tul Bahadur, whose help was sought by Seerat Kaur to put the bag, in which the body of Aikom Singh was stuffed, in her BMW car the next morning, said the bag was quite heavy. "When I asked the woman why the bag was so heavy, she said it was stuffed with clothes of her daughter, who was going out," states Tul Bahadur in his statement. Tul Bahadur, who informed the police about the suspicious bag in the car, further states blood was oozing out of bag and his hands and slippers were stained with it. "On being asked about blood, the woman told me that she had received a cut on her right hand," states Tul Bahadur.

The police have also attached the statement of the couple’s son, Gurniwaz Singh, in the charge sheet. The 11-year-old boy claims he had seen his mother taking out a pistol from the safe before the arrival of his father at the residence on the fateful night. The boy stated that he had also heard the sound of gunshot and cries of his father. When he inquired about it from his mother, she told him to go to sleep and not to come out of his room. The boy further states that when he inquired about his father the next morning, his mother told him that he was away to his (Gurniwaz) uncle’s house.

The Special Investigating Team, which the Mohali police had immediately formed after the incident, is yet to submit its report.