Probe indicts CIA inspector, 4 staffers for custodial death

Judicial probe relied upon digital and forensic evidences besides statement of doctor to rubbish police theory of drowning

- Vishal Joshi

BATHINDA: A judicial probe has indicted five police personnel of the crime investigating agency (CIA)-1 of Bathinda police, including an inspector, for subjecting a villager Bhinder Singh to 'waterboarding', a type of severe torture, to death in custody. Waterboarding is a notorious technique in which water is poured into the nostrils and the mouth of a victim, to evoke the sensation of asphyxiation by drowning.

In the fact-finding report filed on Tuesday, judicial magistrate first class (JMIC) Kuldeep Singh stated that inspector and CIA-1 head Navpreet Singh, head constable Rajwinder Singh, constables- Gaganpreet Singh, Harjit Singh, Jaswinder Singh- will face trial for murder, causing disappearance of evidence and other offences.

The report summed up that the cops "took Bhinder to CIA-1 at 6:58:10 PM, which led to the circumstances in which deceased was illegally kept in CIA-1 custody and subjected to waterboarding, leading to his death." They have been instructed to appear before the court on February 27.

The report (a copy of which is with HT) concluded that Bhinder was kept by the CIA team in custody illegally and then they tried to fabricate the alleged murder into an accidental drowning.

The judicial findings relied upon the digital, and forensic evidence, documents and a statement of a doctor to rubbish the police theory that Bhinder died due to drowning at a lake of the defunct Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Power Plant in the city area.

The judicial officer also pointed out that the station-house officer of Thermal police station, investigating officer Gurpreet Singh and the deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Saravjeet Singh "did not perform their duties and did not launch the investigation into the allegations by bringing the same on record, promptly. Rather they allowed the matter to be swept under the carpet."