Another arrest in Behbal Kalan firing incident

Tribune News Service

Faridkot/Chandigarh, June 20

Probing the fabrication of 18 bullet marks on the escort Gypsy vehicle of former Moga SSP Charanjit Singh Sharma, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Saturday evening arrested Pankaj Bansal, owner of Pankal Motors, who had an automobile workshop in Faridkot at the time of the incident in October 2015.

Bansal is accused of helping the cops, including a former SSP and an SP-level officer, in creating a fake defence theory in the Behbal Kalan police firing case.

It is the third arrest linked to the fabrication of evidence in the incident that occurred on October 14, 2015. Four days ago, the SIT had arrested Sohail Singh Brar, an advocate and son of a late Akali leader here. Earlier, Sharma was arrested in the case. He is presently on interim bail on health grounds.

Inspector General of Police and SIT chief investigator Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh said, “We will produce the accused in the court tomorrow and will share further details.”

The SIT probe found that Bansal had played a key role in creating the fake evidence in the case.

As per the SIT investigation, when the firing took place on October 14, 2015, the protesters were sitting peacefully on a dharna after a series of incidents of sacrilege at Bargari and other places. The cops responsible for the firing hatched a conspiracy theory of self-defence. They allegedly fabricated evidence by creating fake bullet marks on the pilot Gypsy vehicle of the then Moga SSP to support their theory.

Owned garage

Pankaj Bansal, who ran a garage in Faridkot in 2015, has been arrested for aiding the culprits in firing gunshots on the Gypsy vehicle of the then Moga SSP Charanjit Singh Sharma.