Gangster Babli Randhawa, four others acquitted

SANGRUR : A Sangrur court on Monday acquitted all five accused, including gangster Davinder Singh alias Babli Randhawa, in the murder case of financier Hardev Singh Happy who was killed in broad daylight in February 2017 in Longowal town of the district.

However, additional sessions judge Jasjit Singh Bhinder awarded three-year imprisonment to Babli Randhawa and another accused Gurpreet Singh Narsi under the Arms Act.

Randhawa, Narsi, Amandeep Singh Amana, Varinder Singh alias Mintu and Siraz Khan were booked under Section 302 (murder) and the Arms Act at the Longowal police station.

The court has acquitted Amana, Mintu and Khan of all changes.

“The court found no solid evidence against the accused. The forensic science laboratory (FSL) report of the bullets has no definitive proof. Even the deceased’s father Sajjan Singh turned hostile during the trial,” said defence counsel Narpal Singh Dhaliwal.

Soon after committing the crime, the purported videos of some people claiming responsibility for the crime and celebrating the murder were uploaded on Facebook.

“The Facebook videos could not prove that Randhwa took responsibility for the crime on social media,” said Dhaliwal.

CONTROVERSIES AFTER THE KILLING

After the murder, Dhanwant Singh of Kotra Amrhu village and Harjinder Singh of Dugga village, both farmers, had alleged that they were taken into illegal custody just because they knew Randhawa. The police had also extorted ₹19.5 lakh from their families by threatening to implicate them in the case, they had alleged. In April 2017, CM Amarinder Singh ordered vigilance probe against five cops.

The VB initiated probe against former senior superintendent of police (SSP) Inderbir Singh, Sunam DSP Jashandeep Gill, Longowal SHO Sikandar Singh, Sangrur city police post in-charge Baljinder Singh and Badrukhan post in-charge Gurmail Singh, and found them prima facie guilty of extorting money from the two farmers. Later, the two wanted to strike a ‘compromise’ with the accused to get back the money they paid as bribe. In another twist, the DGP in July this year wrote to the Sangrur SSP to book the two in the murder case.

The court found no solid evidence against the accused. The forensic science laboratory report of the bullets has no definitive proof. Even the deceased’s father Sajjan Singh turned hostile during the trial NARPAL SINGH DHALIWAL, defence counsel