1999 bomb planting case: Accused Rattandeep acquitted by Panipat court

A district court in Panipat acquitted an accused, Rattandeep Singh on Friday, from charges of planting a bomb in Panipat in April 1999.

A resident of Rohar village of Jind district in Haryana, Rattandeep was arrested by the Punjab Police from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh in September 2014 after he had escaped from police custody in 1999 after firing at Haryana cops.

Amid tight security, Rattandeep was produced in the district court for hearing and the court of additional district and sessions judge Rajesh Kumar Bhankhar announced the judgement.

As per information, the police failed to provide any evidence to prove the allegations against Rattandeep, leading to his acquittal.

He was booked under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with other accused Sher Singh, Gurbaksh Singh and Satram, for planting an RDX bomb and electronic detonator at Lal Batti Chowk in Panipat on April 14, 1999. The other accused were also acquitted by the court in 2002.

The police had earlier alleged that Rattandeep had left a yellow bag with a time-bomb stuffed with 1,700 gm of RDX at the chowk.

The district police and the bomb disposal squad had managed to defuse the bomb.

HISTORY-SHEETER

Rattandeep was already facing trial under various sections of the IPC and Explosives Act in various district courts across Punjab and Haryana. Out of the eight cases in which he was facing trial, he was already acquitted in six.

In December 2016, a local court in Chandigarh had also acquitted him in the June 1999 bomb blast case outside the passport office in Sector 34, Chandigarh.