More than 25 years after 15-year-old Harpal Singh was picked up from his home and later killed, Mohali CBI court on Wednesday convicted two Punjab cops — Raghbir Singh and Dara Singh — in a fake encounter case sentencing tem life imprisonment.
The CBI court of Additional Sessions Judge NS Gill convicted the then Beas SHO Raghubir Singh and sub inspector Dara Singh, under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code — murder. Both were charged for killing Harpal Singh in a fake encounter in 1992 in Beas area.
Three other accused police officers have been acquitted. Ram Lubaya, the main accused, died during the trial and was facing other similar cases of fake encounters.
Going into background of the matter, victim, Harpal Singh, was picked up from his house on September 14, 1992, at 5 in the morning by Sub Inspector Ram Lubaya
and was taken to Beas Police Station.
Harpal was kept for four days in Beas Police Station, and later, he was shown to be killed in an alleged fake encounter on the intervening night of September 17 and 18 at
Nijjar village.
The police had claimed that two boys were coming from the front when they were patrolling along with CRPF at Nijjar village, and on seeing the police party, the two boys started firing on the police party which continued for 20 minutes in which the police fired 217 cartridges.
After the firing stopped, the search operation was conducted and it was found that one of the boy, named Harpal Singh, was killed, as per the police version.
It was recorded that no used cartridge, among 217, was collected by the police party and deposited in the malkhana, no ammunition records were deposited, none of the police officers in the said encounter sustained any injury nor their vehicles at the spot were damaged.
It was alleged that the police concocted false story of the encounter and killed Harpal Singh. It was also alleged by the police that the other boy, Harjeet Singh, who was said to be escaped from the spot of encounter had confessed his presence at the time of fake encounter was also killed after 15-16 days by the Punjab Police.
Harpal Singh’s body was also not handed over to his family and was illegally cremated as unidentified and unclaimed.
Harpal’s post mortem report observed that he shot under his right eye and one on his forehead from a distance of three metres.