8 cops suspended following HC rap
Mukhjit was killed in an alleged fake encounter on July 16, 2015; he had sustained 23 bullet injuries
MUKHA’S WIFE HAS SOUGHT ₹50 LAKH COMPENSATION, ACTION AGAINST POLICE OFFICIALS INVOLVED IN ENCOUNTER AND A GOVERNMENT JOB
CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government suspended eight cops of Amritsar district accused in the alleged fake encounter of Mukhjit Singh alias Mukha, a local SAD leader, two years ago.
Those cops suspended include Ramesh Kumar, assistant sub-inspector Joginder Singh, head constable Rajesh Kumar, Jasbir Singh, constables Navjot Singh and Love Kumar. Others include head constables Kanwaljit Singh and one Baljit Singh.
The plea of Mukha’s wife for an independent probe was taken up by the high court bench of justice RK Jain on Tuesday morning. Dissatisfied over the probe, the court summoned advocate general, Atul Nanda observing that it would be forced to pass a harsh order as police had failed to take any action against the cops.
Nanda apprised the court of four suspensions and told that the government was in the process of taking action against others. By evening, the police suspended eight cops.
All cops were suspended on Tuesday only. A special investigation team (SIT) had probed the alleged fake encounter and recommended registration of an FIR under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code against the eight cops.
But even after this July 2016 probe report of SIT, no action was taken against the cops.
The matter had reached high court on Mukha’s wife Harjeet Kaur’s plea seeking ₹50 lakh compensation, action against the police officials involved in encounter and a government job. The high court had issued a notice to former Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal among others, on the petition filed in February 2016.
Mukha, a Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) leader, was killed in the alleged fake encounter on July 16, 2015 near the Verka area in Amritsar.
Police had fired at a vehicle in which Singh was travelling. He sustained 23 bullet injuries and later succumbed to it.
Meanwhile, in a separate complaint case filed by Mukha’s family, the local court granted bail to all the cops accused in fake counter. As per the case, on August 30, 2017, the court had named them as accused in the alleged murder under Section 302 (murder) and one was named under Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the IPC. Granting interim bail, the court ordered the accused cops to surrender in lower court to clear bail bond. The next hearing has been adjourned to November 13.