POLICE FILE CASE OF DEFAMATION, SPREADING FALSE NEWS

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mohali on Wednesday convicted a former station house officer (SHO) in a 1992 case involving the abduction, illegal detention, and disappearance of Sukhdev Singh, a vice-principal, and his 80-year-old father-in-law, Sulakhan Singh, a freedom fighter from Bhakna in Tarn Taran district, Punjab.

- Hillary Victor

MOHALI: The court will pronounce the quantum of punishment on December 23.

Another accused assistant sub-inspector (ASI) died during the trial.

Judge Manjot Kaur of the CBI court found Surinderpal Singh, the then SHO of Sarhali police station at the time, guilty under Sections 120-B, 342, 364, and 365 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Surinderpal was convicted in 2005 and is currently in jail serving a life sentence in the human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra murder case and appeared before the court via video conference. The ex-SHO has also been sentenced to 10 years in another case involving the abduction and disappearance of four family members from Jio Bala village in Tarn Taran.

According to the case, on the night of October 31, 1992, Sukhdev Singh and Sulakhan Singh were taken into custody by a police party led by ASI Avtar Singh (now deceased). Avtar Singh informed the family that the two were summoned for questioning by SHO Surinderpal Singh. Both were detained illegally at Sarhali police station for three days, during which family members and teacher union representatives met them and provided food and clothing. However, they went missing thereafter.