CHANDIGARH, Feb 5: A special court in Mohali has awarded life imprisonment to two former Punjab Police officers for killing two persons in a 1992 fake encounter in Amritsar.
In the verdict pronounced on Tuesday, special CBI Judge Rakesh Gupta also imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh each on the two convicts.
The court convicted former station house officer (SHO) Gurbhinder Singh and former assistant sub-inspector Parshotam Singh for killing Baldev Singh and Lakhwinder Singh in the fake encounter.
They were convicted under sections 302 (murder) and 218 (public servant framing incorrect record) of the Indian Penal Code.
After the encounter, police had claimed that Baldev and Lakhwinder were hardcore terrorists with bounties on their heads and were involved in several cases of murder, extortion and dacoity, including the killing of Harbhajan Singh, the son of Gurmej Singh, the then cabinet minister in the Beant Singh government.
Following a Supreme Court order in 1995, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the probe into large-scale cremation of unclaimed bodies by the state police.
During the investigation, it came to light that Baldev, who was Lance Naik in the Army, and was on leave at the time of the incident, was picked up from his house in Baserke Bhaini village on September 6, 1992, by a police team led by then sub-inspector (SI) Mohinder Singh and the then Chheharta SHO Harbhajan Singh.
Lakhwinder, a resident of Sultanwind village, was picked up on September 12, 1992, along with another person, Kulwant Singh, by a police team led by the then Majitha SHO Gurbhinder Singh. Kulwant was later released.
The CBI found that Baldev and Lakhwinder were falsely implicated in the murder of Gurmej Singh’s son and killed in a fake encounter in Sansara village in Majitha on September 13, 1992.
During the trial, several other accused, including Harbhajan and Mohinder, passed away.
While Gurbhinder and Parshotam faced trial, former deputy superintendent of police S S Sidhu and former inspector Chaman Lal were acquitted by the court. (PTI)
