Bathinda villager acquitted in TADA case after 26 years

PATIALA: Twenty-six years after he was booked under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), Bathinda resident Sandeep Singh Bhau (62) was acquitted by a Patiala court on Wednesday.

During the case’s trial, as he went into hiding, Bhau was declared a proclaimed offender. He was booked under Section 5 of TADA, which deals with possession of illegal firearm in a notified area.

The court of additional sessions judge D P Singla acquitted Bhau (63), a resident of Multaniyan village of Bathinda district, as the prosecution could produce adequate evidence against him. Apart from being booked under TADA, Bhau was charged with attempt to murder in the case registered against him at Patiala Sadar police station in 1992.

The defense counsel had also contended that the case against Bhau appeared to be false and had been filed on flimsy grounds. As per the case file, police had claimed that Bhau was booked after he opened fire at cops manning a check post at Chaura village near here.

After the registration of the case, Bhau went into hiding and was later declared a proclaimed offender by a court in August 1992. He was arrested in a joint operation carried out by the Patiala and Bathinda police near the Bathinda bus stand in January 2017.