SENIOR JOURNALIST.TARN-TARAN/MOHALI.
The CBI special court in Mohali, Punjab, sentenced the then SHO Patti Sita Ram to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2 lakh under section 302 of IPC, five years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 under section 201, two years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 20,000 under section 218 in a fake encounter case that took place in 1993.
Similarly, Sita Ram’s co-accused constable Rajpal posted at the then police station Patti has been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 under sections 201 and 120B. The court has directed to give the fine amount of Rs 1.5 lakh each to the families of deceased Sukhwant Singh and Gurdev Singh. The CBI court had convicted the accused on March 3. The CBI court has given this verdict 32 years after the incident.
In 1993, the Tarn Taran police had shown two youths killed in a fake encounter. In this case, 11 police officials were accused of kidnapping, illegal imprisonment and murder. Sarabjit Singh Verka, the lawyer of the victim families, said that the CBI had cited 48 witnesses in this case, but only 22 witnesses testified during the trial as 23 witnesses died during the delayed trial and due to this fact some of the accused were acquitted. Similarly, accused Sardul Singh, Amarjit Singh, Didar Singh and Sameer Singh died during the pendency of the trial.
Within two years of the trial starting, the CBI special court of Rakesh Kumar Gupta gave its verdict and convicted 2 accused and acquitted 5 accused giving them the benefit of doubt. The CBI had investigated on the basis of Supreme Court orders passed in 1995. Initially CBI conducted a preliminary enquiry and recorded the statement of one Gyan Singh on 27th November 1996 and later in February 1997 CBI registered a regular case against ASI Norang Singh of Police Post Kairon and others of Police Station Patti. The case was pending in the District Court.