Life term for ex-SHO in fake encounter case involving 2 Tarn Taran youths

A CBI court today sentenced former Patti police station SHO Sita Ram, 80, to life imprisonment and ASI Rajpal Singh, 57, to five-year jail term for a fake encounter of two Tarn Taran youths in 1993.

The court sentenced Sita Ram under Sections 302, 201 and 218 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Rajpal Singh, who was a constable when the encounter took place, under Section 201 of the IPC read with Section 120-B, said CBI public prosecutor Anmol Narang.

A fine of Rs 2.70 lakh and Rs 50,000 has been imposed on Sita Ram and Rajpal Singh, respectively. A compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh each has been awarded to the families of the victims, Sukhwant Singh and Gurdev Singh, which is to be paid out of the fine.

The court had acquitted five other accused in the case giving them the benefit of doubt. Four other accused — Sardool Singh, Amarjit Singh, Didar Singh and Sameer Singh — had died during the pendency of trial.

In all, 11 police officials were charged with kidnapping, illegal confinement and murder. The CBI conducted the preliminary inquiry and recorded statement of one Gian Singh on November 27, 1996, and later registered a case against ASI Norang Singh and others of the Kairon and Patti police stations in February 1997.

According to the CBI, on January 30, 1993, Gurdev Singh, alias Deba of Galalipur, Tarn Taran, was picked up from his house by a police team headed by ASI Norang Singh, the then incharge of the Kairon police post in Tarn Taran. On February 5, 1993, Sukhwant Singh of Bahmniwala village was taken away by ASI Didar Singh of the Patti police station.

Both were shown killed in an encounter on February 6, 1993, in the Bhagupur area. The bodies were cremated as “unclaimed”.