Four Bathinda cops booked for custodial death

A case gas been lodged against four members of the Bathinda police’s Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) staff in connection with the alleged custodial death of a 28-year-old man.

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Narinderdeep Singh, a resident of Omaxe City in Goniana Mandi, was found dead under suspicious circumstances on May 23. Singh, who worked at Future Care Institute located on Ajit Road in Bathinda, was last seen leaving for work in his car.

Hours later, his family was informed that he died in a road accident — a claim the family immediately questioned after noticing visible signs of severe physical torture on his body.

According to a complaint filed by Narinderdeep’s father Ranjit Singh, his son was picked by CIA staff-2 officers, including ASI Avtar Singh Tari. He alleged that Narinderdeep was subjected to extreme third-degree torture while in custody, which led to his death.

Initially, the police said Narinderdeep died due to drug overdose and later claimed that he was killed in a road accident.The inconsistencies in the narrative raised suspicions. A video shared by Gagandeep Singh, one of the acquaintances who had last seen Narinderdeep, further contradicted the police version.

On May 24, an FIR was registered at the Canal Colony police station against ASI Avtar Singh Tari and two of his friends Gagandeep Singh and Happy Luthra. Two days later, three more CIA-2 officials — Head Constable Harvinder Singh, Senior Constable Lakhwinder Singh, and Constable Gurpal Singh — were named in the case.

Bathinda SSP Amneet Kondal said, “The FIR against the four CIA-2 police officials and two friends of deceased has been registered on the statement and allegations made by the victim’s family. The reason of the death will be cleared in the post-mortem report”.