Court rap for UT police as murder accused walk free

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 22

For the SHO of the Sector 26 police station, Inspector Anokh Singh, it was work as usual on August 14, 2013. The warm summer day gave no inkling of the heat that was about to generate with the discovery of a body in the woods near Kishangarh. There was also no way anyone could have guessed that the case would eventually end up in the acquittal of the two accused and a rap for the Chandigarh Police.

When Anokh Singh and his gunman reached the spot, forest guard Kaka Singh stated that he was going to Bapu Dham Colony from Kishangarh when he noticed a young boy lying in a pool of blood. His skull was “badly damaged”.

The body was sent for a postmortem examination and the news was flashed in newspapers and TV channels. Two days later, the victim was identified as Deepak, aka Deepu. Shiv Kumar, the same day, disclosed that an extra-judicial confession was made before him by accused Jagpal, aka Jaggi. 

On August 17, 2013, accused Rakesh, aka Tinku, was also arrested. They allegedly made disclosure statements and led a police party to the place where the murder was committed. A blood-stained stone was also recovered.  The two were, subsequently, sentenced to life by the trial court.  

Reversing the judgment, the Bench of Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Kuldip Singh observed that the prosecution’s case was that Jaggi in his extra-judicial confession stated that he and Tinku murdered Deepak before changing their clothes and going for a movie.  In his cross-examination, Shiv Kumar admitted that he went to the police on August 16 morning. However, he did not inform the victim’s brother Sunny. He also admitted that the statement signed by him was neither countersigned by a police officer or the “munshi”. He said he had seen the judicial file, but the statement was not available in it. 

  “In case extra-judicial confession was made before him, he should have immediately told this fact to the family of the deceased, since he was also living in the same locality, Bapu Dham Colony. Shiv Kumar is not a man of authority before whom the extra-judicial confession was allegedly made...”

Critically analysing the police functioning, Justice Sharma on behalf of the Bench asserted that the police did not join independent witness when the disclosure statements were allegedly made. Kaka Singh’s statement showed only a stone was recovered by the police from the spot and nothing else was found and recovered.

Yet the police recovered from the spot a blood-stained stone, a blue button, a disposable syringe, an empty cold drink bottle, a blood-stained chain and blood-stained leaves. However, these were not sent for a chemical examination.

Boy was found dead

A young boy, Deepak, aka Deepu, was found lying in a pool of blood near Kishangarh. Two persons were arrested in connection with the murder. The case ended in the acquittal of the accuse.