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Thenewsdose.com

Chandigarh, Aug1,2025,UPDATED

A special CBI court has convicted five retired Punjab Police officials, including a former Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), in a 32-year-old fake encounter case involving the killing of seven youths from Rani Villah village in Amritsar in 1993.

The court held former SSP Bhupinderjit Singh, DSP Davinder Singh, Inspector Suba Singh, ASI Gulbarg Singh and ASI Raghbir Singh guilty of criminal conspiracy, murder, destruction of evidence, and fabrication of records. They were taken into custody and sent to jail after conviction. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on Monday.

The Case

Among the seven victims were three Special Police Officers (SPOs)—Shinder Singh, Desa Singh and Sukhdev Singh—who, along with two others, were abducted, tortured, and later shown as killed in two staged encounters.

The CBI registered the case in 1999 on the basis of a complaint by Narinder Kaur, wife of SPO Shinder Singh, whose body was cremated as “unclaimed.”

Investigations revealed that on June 27, 1993, a police team led by Sarhali SHO Gurdev Singh forcibly picked up the three SPOs and two others, Balkar Singh alias Bobby and Daljit Singh, from the house of a government contractor. They were allegedly tortured at Sarhali police station to extract confessions related to a robbery case.

While Daljit Singh was later released, the remaining detainees were shown as absconders. On July 12, 1993, police claimed that during a recovery operation in Gharka village, militants attacked the police party, resulting in the deaths of Mangal Singh and three others—Desa Singh, Shinder Singh and Balkar Singh—in crossfire. Weapons and ammunition were allegedly recovered from the scene.

However, forensic evidence and injuries on the bodies indicated custodial torture.

Further Killings

Sukhdev Singh, one of those abducted, was handed over to Verowal police, who, along with two other youths—Sarabjit Singh of Hansawala and Harwinder Singh of Jalabad—were later shown as killed in another staged encounter.

Trial and Delay

The CBI filed a chargesheet in 2002 against multiple police personnel. However, the trial was stayed between 2010 and 2021, during which five accused and 36 prosecution witnesses died. Only 28 witnesses could depose in court.

Sarabjit Singh Verka, counsel for the victims’ families, welcomed the verdict, noting it as a step towards justice despite decades of delay.