5 Punjab ex-cops held guilty of fake encounter | Chennai News

MOHALI: Nearly 32 years after seven men were illegally picked up, tortured and murdered in Punjab’s Tarn Taran, a special CBI court in Mohali Friday convicted five retired Punjab police officers for killing them in a fake encounter.Three of the victims were “special police officers (SPOs)”. The convicted officers are former SSP Bhupinderjit Singh, former DSP Davinder Singh, former inspector Suba Singh and former ASIs Gulabarg Singh and Raghbir Singh. They were taken into custody following the verdict. Sentencing is scheduled for Monday, said CBI public prosecutor Anmol Narang.Special CBI judge Baljinder Singh Sra found them guilty of criminal conspiracy, murder, destruction of evidence, and forgery. Other co-accused passed away during trial.The victims – SPOs Shinder Singh, Sukhdev Singh, Desa Singh, Balkar Singh, Sarabjit Singh, Mangal and Harwinder Singh – were killed on July 12 and July 28, 1993.Nine days ago, judge Sra’s special CBI court convicted a former SP for killing two constables in Amritsar in 1993 after branding them terrorists.According to Narang, a CBI probe established three SPOs were abducted by a police party led by inspector Gurdev, SHO of Sirhali, on June 27, 1993. Balkar Singh was abducted the same day. Sarabjit Singh and Harwinder Singh were abducted by Verowal SHO Suba Singh in July 1993.The probe found that after Shinder and the others were kidnapped by police on June 27, 1993, they were taken to Sarhali police station where they were tortured and falsely implicated in a robbery case. A fake FIR was lodged on July 2, 1993, alleging they had absconded with govt-issued arms.On July 12, 1993, Shinder, Desa, Balkar and Mangal were killed in a fake encounter by a team led by DSP Bhupinderjit Singh and officers of Sirhali police station, the CBI prosecutor said. Police claimed “terrorists” attacked them when they were transporting Mangal Singh for recovery in the robbery case and the four men were killed in crossfire. The bodies were cremated as “unclaimed” despite being identified by ASIs Gulabarg Singh and Davinder Singh.On July 28, 1993, Sukhdev, Sarabjit and Harwinder were killed in a staged encounter by a team led by SSP Bhupinderjit Singh and officers of Verowal police station, he added.