MOHALI: After a trial of 34 years, former senior superintendent of police (SSP) Gurmeet Singh Randhawa has been convicted by a special CBI court in Mohali in a 1992 kidnapping and disappearance case involving transporter Amrik Singh Sakri, who was allegedly picked up by the Tarn Taran police from a marriage function in Ludhiana on November 25, 1992.The convition was ordered by the court of judge Yukti Goyal Special Judge, CBI Mohali on Wednesday.The court, however, acquitted another accused, Parminderjit, giving him the benefit of doubt. The quantum of sentence for Randhawa will be pronounced on Thursday.Amrik Singh Sakri was allegedly taken away by the Tarn Taran police while attending a marriage function in Ludhiana.His subsequent disappearance became part of a larger investigation into alleged enforced disappearances and illegal cremations during the anti-terror operations in Punjab.The case has its roots in complaints regarding the disappearance of Sikh men during the period.Amrik Kaur, an Amritsar-based woman whose husband Amrik Singh and son had gone missing, had approached the Supreme Court seeking justice. She subsequently submitted an affidavit before the CBI in 1997, following which the agency investigated the matter.The CBI had registered cases against Randhawa in 1997 and 2000 in connection with allegations of abduction, kidnapping and the subsequent elimination of Sikh men during the anti-terror operations.The investigations followed a public notice issued by the CBI announcing an inquiry into the disposal of unidentified and unclaimed bodies in the police districts of Amritsar, Majitha and Tarn Taran between June 1984 and 1994.On January 16, 1996, the Shiromani Akali Dal’s human rights wing had claimed that a large number of people had disappeared and that police personnel had brought more than 2,000 unclaimed bodies for cremation in Amritsar, Tarn Taran and adjoining areas.
Randhawa’s service terminated in 2015
In 2015, the Punjab government had terminated the services of Randhawa, who was then serving as SSP, Fatehgarh Sahib.The action came amid two CBI cases against him over allegations of abduction, kidnapping and the subsequent elimination of Sikh men during the anti-terror operations.The conviction in the 1992 disappearance case marks a significant development in the decades-old proceedings relating to alleged custodial disappearances during the militancy period in Punjab.
