Special court awards life imprisonment to 2 former Punjab cops in 1992 fake encounter case

Senior police officers at that time had claimed that both the deceased were hardcore terrorists with bounties on their heads and were involved in over a hundred cases of murder, extortion and dacoity, including the killing of Harbhajan Singh alias Shindi, son of Gurmej Singh, the then Cabinet minister in the Beant Singh-led  Punjab government.

The probe was taken up by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 1995 on the orders of the Supreme Court. During the investigation, it was established that Baldev Singh Deba, an Army personnel who was home on leave, was picked up from his house at Baserke Bhaini village on September 6, 1992, by a police party headed by SI Mohinder Singh and Harbhajan Singh, the then SHO of Chheharta police station.

Similarly, Lakhwinder Singh Lakha Ford, a resident of Sultanwind village, was also picked from his rented house at Preet Nagar, Amritsar on September 12, 1992, along with one Kulwant Singh by a police party headed by SI Gurbhinder Singh, the then SHO of Majitha police station, but Kulwant Singh was later released. The CBI found that the officers of Chheharta police station falsely implicated Deba and Lakha Ford for the murder of the minister’s son Harbhajan. He was killed on July 23 that year.

The police officers claimed that while taking them near Sansara village for the recovery of arms and ammunition, an encounter took place with militants in which Baldev Singh Deba and one attacker were killed on September 13, 1992. The other deceased was later identified as Lakha Ford.

The CBI investigation concluded that both men were picked, kept in illegal custody, and then killed in a fake encounter. The agency also found that there was no entry in log books regarding the visit of police vehicles at the alleged encounter site. Even though it was shown by the police that the unknown militant killed during the encounter was identified by the injured Deba, as per the postmortem report, Deba died instantly and so identification by him was not possible.

On November 15, 1995, the Supreme Court ordered a CBI inquiry into the matter of the cremation of ‘unclaimed’ dead bodies by the police. In pursuance of these orders, a case was registered by the agency and on August 30, 1999, it filed a chargesheet against S S Sidhu, Harbhajan Singh, Mohinder Singh, Parshotam Lal, Chaman Lal, Gurbhinder Singh, Mohan Singh, Parshotam Singh and Jassa Singh for kidnapping, criminal conspiracy, murder, and preparation of false records. But the statements of witnesses were recorded after 2022 as the case remained stayed owing to the orders of higher courts.

Sarabjit Singh Verka, counsel for the victims’ families, said, “Although the CBI cited 37 witnesses in this case, the statements of only 19 witnesses were recorded during the trial as most of the witnesses died during the delayed trial and finally after 32 years, justice is delivered.”

During the trial, accused Harbhajan Singh, Mohinder Singh, Parshotam Lal, Mohan Singh and Jassa Singh also died.

CBI Public Prosecutor Anmol Narang said the agency successfully countered the contentions of the defence.

Advocate Gurpartap Singh, who represented Chaman Lal and S S Sidhu, said, “Both my clients did not participate in the encounter and Chaman Lal reached the place of encounter after it was over.”