Punjab ex-cop acquitted in 1992 abduction case

A CBI court on Wednesday acquitted former Punjab Police ASI Gurnam Singh giving him the benefit of the doubt in the alleged abduction of Tarn Taran youth Karanbir Singh on October 1, 1992.

The prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that a police party, headed by the then ASI of the Shahbazpur police post Gurnam Singh, abducted the youth after which he went missing.

The youth’s mother Gurnam Kaur had said that Karanbir Singh (26) was picked up by the police on the charges of sheltering militants, after which he went missing. “The family does not know whether he is dead or alive,” she had said.

The mother alleged that her physically challanged younger son Harjinder Singh was also picked up along with Karanabir and beaten up in broad daylight. Cops, however, left him after that. The CBI had filed a closure report in 2008, but the court declined that and a re-investigation was ordered.

Sarabjit Singh Verka, counsel for the victim family, said, “Statements of seven witnesses were recorded supporting the prosecution theory. The defence side presented three witnesses. Karanbir Singh’s mother, however, died in 2010 before deposing in the case.”

The family members of Karanbir are not satisfied with the verdict and plan to file an appeal in the high court against the acquittal of the accused.