KHANNA STRIPPING CASE
Ludhiana: On a petition seeking a CBI probe into the incident of stripping of three persons allegedly involving former SHO of Sadar, Khanna, Baljinder Singh, constable Varun Kumar and a local resident with alleged political links, the Punjab and Haryana high court has issued notice of motion.
In the petition, in which CBI, Punjab DGP, Ludhiana range IG, Sangrur SSP, Khanna SP Tejinder Singh Sandhu were added as respondents, the petitioner has prayed that the matter has not been investigated in a fair manner.
Guninder Singh, advocate for the petitioner, said the officials had tried to help the accused so it should be probed by the CBI as there were politicians and senior officers involved.
The bench of Justice Sudip Ahluwalia ordered that notice be served upon the respondents for December 8 and they should file their replies on affidavit by the next date of hearing.
The petitioner submitted that the DGP had filed an affidavit, saying the investigation would be carried out fairly and departmental inquiry would be concluded within two months. The petition said nothing as said in the affidavit was done. The petitioner said the SIT constituted as per the affidavit was “afraid of taking action against political person Rajvir Singh, alias Rubal Singh, Manvir Singh and Bhagwant Singh of Doraha at whose behest and presence the inhuman act was done in the office of Baljinder Singh”.
“The victims were never called by the investigation agency and were threatened by SP Tejinder Sandhu. The complainants were directed to reconstruct the crime scene in the office of SHO, Khanna Sadar,” the petition said, adding, “The respondent forced the complainant not to name the private political persons.”
THE INCIDENT
On September 5, Khanna City-I police had arrested the then Sadar SHO inspector Baljinder Singh and constable Varun Kumar after a case was registered against them on July 5 under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 342 (wrongful confinement), 295-A (deliberate act outraging religious feelings) of the IPC and other sections of the SC/ST Act and the Information Technology (IT) Act.
On April 16, taking a serious note of the video showing Baljinder Singh allegedly assaulting and making three persons stand nude at the police station that went viral, Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta had directed the then IGP (Ludhiana range) Jaskaran Singh to carry out an inquiry and submit a report at the earliest.