1993 fake encounter case: 3 ex-police officials sentenced to imprisonment

A CBI court has sentenced three former police officials to imprisonment and fines in a 1993 fake encounter case involving two Phagwara youths. Former Rawalpindi SHO Manjit Singh was sentenced to 8 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000. ASI Karamjit Singh was sentenced to 3 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000. Phagwara City SHO Gurmej Singh was sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000. Constables Harjit Singh and Kashmir Singh were acquitted.

According to the CBI chargesheet, on March 27, 1993, around 8.30 am, a police party from PS Rawalpindi, Kapurthala, headed by ASI Karamjit Singh, picked up Palwinder Singh, alias Pappu, from his house in Village Rawalpindi. On the same day, Balbir Singh of Village Dhade, Phagwara, was picked up by Manjit Singh, the then SHO PS Rawalpindi, from his village.

The two men were kept in illegal detention and later shown as arrested in a theft case with a recovery of a scooter and gold ring. However, they were later shown as absconding from police custody and subsequently killed in a fake encounter with the Sultanpur Lodhi police.

The CBI inquiry was ordered by the high court in 2005 based on a judicial report that found the encounter to be doubtful. The court observed that the statements of co-accused and associate police officials played a vital role in proving the theory of arrest, escape, and then killing of Palwinder Singh and Balbir Singh in an encounter as fake.