2 Former Punjab Police Officers Convicted In 1993 Fake Encounter Case

A special CBI court in Mohali has convicted the then DSP, city, Dilbagh Singh and the then SHO Gurbachan Singh of Tarn Taran on Thursday for the extra-judicial killing of a fruit seller after abducting him from his residence in 1993.

Gulshan Kumar was abducted from his residence on June 22, 1993, kept in illegal detention for a month, and was killed in a staged encounter on July 22 that year, officials here said.

The special court found Dilbagh Singh, who retired as DIG, and Gurbachan Singh, who retired as Deputy SP, guilty. Three other charge-sheeted police officers — ASI Arjun Singh, ASI Devinder Singh, and SI Balbir Singh — died during the trial.

The court will announce the quantum of the sentence on Friday.

The case was handed over to the CBI in 1995 on the orders of the Supreme Court. The agency filed its charge sheet in 1999. After 21 years, charges were framed against the accused on February 7, 2020.

During the trial, the CBI presented 32 witnesses, including eyewitnesses who provided cogent evidence that Dilbagh Singh and Gurbachan Singh had abducted Gulshan Kumar from his house, kept him in illegal detention/confinement and subsequently killed him on July 22, 1993, a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.

“The evidence presented shows that the accused police officers staged the murder as an encounter, with testimonies and documents proving the false narratives created by the guilty police officials,” he said.

The police cremated Kumar’s body in Tarn Taran on July 22, 1993, without informing his family.