Retired Punjab SP gets 10-yr jail in 1993 fake encounter case

A CBI court on Wednesday sentenced former Beas SHO Paramjit Singh, 67, to imprisonment of 10 years for abduction in a 1993 fake encounter case of two constables in Amritsar. Paramjit Singh retired as a Superintendent of Police.

The court acquitted three other accused: Inspector Dharam Singh, ASI Kashmir Singh and ASI Darbara Singh, giving them the benefit of the doubt. Another key accused, SI Ram Lubhiya, died during the trial.

Constable Surmukh Singh of Muchhal village in Baba Bakala tehsil and Constable Sukhwinder Singh of Khiala village, Amritsar, were picked up by the police on April 18, 1993, and kept in illegal detention. Later, they were killed in a fake encounter by the Majitha police. Their bodies were cremated as "unclaimed" four days later.

CBI Public Prosecutor Anmol Narang said Surmukh was picked up by a police party headed by Inspector Paramjit Singh, the then SHO of the Beas police station, from his house on April 18,1993, at 6 pm. On the same day in the afternoon, Sukhwinder was picked up by SI Ram Lubhiya from his house. It is learnt that the duo were picked up during the investigation in a scooter theft incident.

The next day, Balbir Kaur and Dildar Singh, parents of Sukhwinder, visited the Beas police station but Ram Lubhiya refused to allow them to meet Sukhwinder.

Four days later, the Majitha police, headed by Lopoke SHO Dharam Singh, claimed to have neutralised two unknown militants in an encounter.

Within a week, the Lopoke police filed an untraced report on the alleged encounter, stating that there was no need for more investigation.

On the Supreme Court's order, the CBI initiated an inquiry into the incident on December 26, 1995, and recorded the statement of the deceased's mother a year later. The CBI investigation established that the two youths killed in the encounter were Sukhwinder and Surmukh.

A case was registered by the CBI on February 28, 1997, and a chargesheet filed on February 1, 1999, against Ram Lubhiya, the then in-charge of the Butala Police post; Dharam Singh, the then SHO of the Lopoke police station; Paramjit Singh, the then SHO of the Beas police station; and ASI Kashmir Singh and ASI Darbara Singh of the Lopoke police station for conspiracy, kidnapping and destruction of evidence.

Sarabjit Singh Verka, counsel for the victims' families, said, "Although charges were framed against the accused in 1999, the trial was stayed in the higher courts from 2001 to 2022 on the basis of various petitions of the accused. Due to this, statements of only 27 witnesses were recorded and some died, while others deposed in favour of the accused."