EX-SP Salwinder gets 10-year jail for rape, bribery
GURDASPUR:A Gurdaspur court on Thursday awarded former superintendent of police (SP) Salwinder Singh a jail term of 10 and five years in a case of rape and bribery.
Both the sentences will run concurrently. Also, the court of additional sessions judge Prem Kumar imposed a fine of ₹50,000 on Salwinder (55) who it held guilty on February 15 in the rape case registered against the former cop in 2016.
In August 2016, Salwinder was booked after a state government employee accused him of taking ₹50,000 bribe to remove his name from an FIR (first information report) in a “false” rape case and also developing illicit relations with his wife on the pretext of visiting his house in connection with probe. The case was registered under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 13 (2) (criminal misconduct) of the Prevention of Corruption Act at the Gurdaspur city police station. Police said the man was booked in February 2014 for rape on a complaint that Salwinder was investigating.
Salwinder was declared a proclaimed offender in the rape case, after his bail plea was rejected in the Punjab and Haryana high court in September 2016. He remained underground for months and was suspended from service. He surrendered in a Gurdaspur court on April 20, 2017. On Thursday, Salwinder was sent to the Amritsar central jail where he was brought from after the court pronounced its verdict. The Gurdaspur jail authorities had refused to keep him there for security reasons and he was taken to Amritsar. He was taken in custody on February 15 as he was out on bail. Salwinder had shot into the limelight after he was purportedly kidnapped by terrorists hours before the Pathankot airbase attack in January 2016. He was quizzed repeatedly by investigative agencies and was finally given a clean chit.
Later that year, the Punjab government proceeded with his compulsory retirement citing his “controversial conduct throughout his service in the Punjab Police, starting as an assistant sub-inspector (ASI)”.