MOHALI: Two former Punjab Police officers, both aged over 70, were sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday for their roles in the 1992 fake encounter killings of an Army jawan and a farmer, who were falsely implicated in a murder case and branded as hardcore terrorists.
A CBI court convicted the two men—Gurbhinder Singh, the former SHO of Majitha police station, and Parshotam Singh, the former ASI—under sections 302, 120-B, and 218 of the Indian Penal Code.
The victims, Baldev Singh alias Deba and Lakhwinder Singh alias Lakha, were arrested in connection with the murder of the son of Punjab’s then cabinet minister Gurmej Singh on July 23, 1992. They were killed in a staged encounter on September 13, 1992, near Sansara village.
According to Advocate Sarabjit Verka, who represented the victims’ families, the police falsely claimed that Deba and Lakha were hardcore terrorists with bounties on their heads, involved in several criminal activities, including murder, extortion, and dacoity.
The CBI investigation revealed that Deba, a lance naik in the Army, was picked up from his home on September 6, 1992. A few days later, Lakha was detained from his rented accommodation along with one Kulwant Singh. The investigation concluded that the three men were held illegally, with no logbook entries for police vehicle movements. While Kulwant Singh was eventually released, Deba and Lakha were shot dead in the fake encounter.
