MOHALI: A special CBI court in Mohali on Thursday sentenced former Punjab Police SSP Gurmeet Singh Randhawa to an effective five years’ imprisonment in the 1992 kidnapping and disappearance case of Ludhiana-based transporter Amrik Singh Shakri. The court also imposed a total fine of Rs 75,000 on him.The court had convicted Randhawa on November 11 under Sections 365 (kidnapping) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and pronounced the sentence on November 12.While he was awarded five years’ imprisonment under Section 365 and two years under Section 120B, the court directed both sentences to run concurrently, limiting his actual prison term to five years.CBI public prosecutor Jai Hind Patel and complainant’s advocate Sarabjeet Singh Verka said Randhawa was also fined Rs 50,000 under Section 365 and Rs 25,000 under Section 120B.At the request of the complainant’s counsel, the case was referred to the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) for grant of compensation to the victim.The case dates back to November 25, 1992, when a Tarn Taran police team picked up Shakri from Hotel Amaltas in Ludhiana while he was attending his niece’s wedding.Randhawa was then posted as DSP (Detective) in Tarn Taran. Shakri never returned home, and his whereabouts remained unknown.Following a habeas corpus petition filed by Shakri’s wife in 1996, the Supreme Court ordered a CBI investigation. The agency registered a case in February 2000 and filed a chargesheet in 2001 against Randhawa and other police personnel for alleged kidnapping, illegal detention, fabrication of official records and criminal conspiracy.The trial was delayed for years and formally commenced in 2022. During the proceedings, important evidence, including wedding photographs, video recordings and police vehicle logbooks, reportedly went missing from court records.The Punjab and Haryana High Court subsequently ordered the reconstruction of the missing records.Advocate HS Dhanoa, another counsel in the case, said the court acquitted co-accused constable Parminderjit Singh for lack of evidence. Proceedings against Inspector Suba Singh, Sub-Inspector Surinder Singh and Assistant Sub-Inspector Jaswant Singh were abated following their deaths.The alleged main conspirator, then Tarn Taran SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu, had also died while the initial investigation was underway.The verdict brings a decades-long legal battle over Shakri’s disappearance during the militancy period in Punjab to a crucial stage.
