Punjab Police ex-DIG gets 7-year jail for 1993 fake encounter

Mohali, June 7

A CBI court today sentenced former Punjab Police DIG Dilbagh Singh to seven-year rigorous imprisonment and ex-DSP Gurbachan Singh to life imprisonment for killing a vegetable vendor in a fake encounter in 1993, officials said.

A fine of Rs 50,000 was imposed on Dilbagh Singh and Rs 2 lakh on Gurbachan Singh. The CBI had filed a chargesheet against then Tarn Taran DSP Dilbagh Singh, then Inspector Gurbachan Singh and ASIs Arjun Singh, Davinder Singh and Balbir Singh, but the three ASIs died during the pendency of the trial.

The officials said the CBI had registered the case on the complaint of victim’s father Chaman Lal. He had alleged that on June 22, 1993, he along with his sons Parveen Kumar, Bobby Kumar and Gulshan Kumar were picked by a police team headed by Dilbagh Singh and Gurbachan Singh. Except Gulshan, all others were released after a few days.

The complaint alleged Gulshan, who was a vegetable vendor, was kept in illegal custody at the Tarn Taran city police station. On July 22, 1993, Gulshan and three others were killed in a staged encounter, it said. Gulshan’s body was not handed over to the family and was cremated as “unclaimed”, the complaint said. The case was handed over to the CBI in 1995 on the Supreme Court’s order. After completing the investigation, the CBI on May 7, 1999, registered a case against the police officers.

CBI Public Prosecutor Anmol Narang said the CBI had cited 32 witnesses in the case, but only 15 deposed as many died during the pendency of the trial that was delayed on account of filing of various petitions by the accused.