Faridkot: After clean chit by cop, accused renamed in Dera chief's murder case

Balwant Garg

Faridkot, July 18

In the murder case of a dera head in which the prime accused was given the clean chit by DSP-rank officer Ravinder Singh after the accused had allegedly paid Rs 1 crore bribe, the Kotkapura police on Tuesday renamed the accused as the main conspirator.

Dayal Das of a dera at Kot Sukhia village was killed on November 7, 2019. Jarnail Das, the head of another dera branch in Moga, was named as the mastermind of the murder.

While Jarnail Das was absconding, a DSP-rank officer of Moga had given a clean chit to him on November 23, 2021.

However, the complainant Gagan Das of Kot Sukhia had challenged the clean chit to Jarnail Das and approached the High Court. Then a special investigation team (SIT) was constituted under the DIG-Ferozepur and started the investigation.

This SIT on Tuesday wrote the Faridkot police to name Jarnail Das as the prime accused in this case as the DSP had ignored the facts in this case.

In another development, the police have registered a criminal case against unknown persons under Section 409 of the IPC (misappropriation) after the police file of the murder case had gone missing on December 13, 2022.

Sushil Kumar, DSP, Faridkot, had claimed that sub-inspector Khem Chand had brought the file from his residence on December 19, 2022. The DSP claimed that SP Gagnesh Kumar was also informed about it.

Sushil, Gagnesh and Khem Chand were booked for corruption on the basis of an inquiry conducted by SIT last month. The probe has found the police officers guilty of taking ?20 lakh as a bribe from the complainant Gagan Das.