1991 ‘fake’ encounter: Former DGP, three others acquitted

Ropar : Over two decades after a youth was kidnapped and allegedly murdered in a ‘fake’ encounter, District and Sessions Judge BS Sandhu today acquitted the four accused, including former DGP Satish Kumar Sharma, giving them the benefit of the doubt. In 2014, the court had framed charges against Sharma, the then Patiala SSP, the then Ropar SP (operations) SPS Basra, the then Morinda SHO Balkar Singh and ASI Gurcharan Singh under Sections 364 (kidnapping), 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 120-B and 34 of the IPC. Sharma, a 1983-batch IPS officer, retired last year as DGP, Training and Community Policing. The others acquitted are retirees too. On October 24, 1990, 21-year-old Kuldip Singh of Amrali village was kidnapped by unidentified persons from Krishna Mandi in Morinda. He was then doing graduation from Punjabi University, Patiala. The victim’s father, Ajaib Singh, ran from pillar to post to locate Kuldip, but the police denied that he was in their custody. On May 15, 1991, Ajaib Singh read a report in The Tribune that carried a statement issued on behalf of the then Patiala SSP Satish Kumar Sharma that one Kuldip of Asrali village, falling under Morinda police station, was killed in an encounter on May 1. There was no village by this name in Morinda. Assuming that the case pertained to Amrali village (and his son), Ajaib approached the authorities for justice, but to no avail.