Charges framed against ex-Akali MLA Valtoha
TARN TARAN: A local court has framed charges of murder and house trespass against former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Virsa Singh Valtoha in the 1983 murder case of Dr Sudarshan Kumar Trehan, a renowned doctor of Patti town in Tarn Taran.
In the order issued on January 17, Tarn Taran additional sessions judge Paramjit Kaur said: “In view of the contents of report under Section 173 of CrPC recovery memo, attending documents and finding of a prima facie case, the accused is charged for the offence punishable under Sections 302 (murder), 449 (house trespass) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to which he (Valtoha) pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.”
The judge set February 14 as the date for recording evidence.
Dr Trehan was murdered in his clinic in Patti on September 30, 1983. Valtoha, who also remained a chief parliamentary secretary in the SAD-BJP government, was named as one of the accused in the case.
An FIR was registered against unidentified persons on the day of the murder. A year later, police took one Hardev Singh on remand, who was then lodged in the Nabha jail in other criminal cases.
During interrogation, Hardev confessed that he along with Valtoha and one Baldev Singh were behind Dr Trehan’s murder. On the basis of his confession, Valtoha was named as an accused.
Valtoha got a bail in the case in February 1991, but the police never presented a supplementary chargesheet against him.
The other accused, Hardev Singh and Baldev Singh, were acquitted in November 1990. However, Valtoha was never arrested. In February last year, 36 years after the murder, the police presented a challan against Valtoha.