1993 Tarn Taran fake encounter: 5 Punjab Police officers sentenced to life by CBI Court

August 4, 2025

Tarn taran, August 4: In the 1993 Tarn Taran fake encounter incident, a special CBI court on Monday sentenced five police officers to life imprisonment. They include retired SSP Bhupendrajit Singh, DSP Davinder Singh, Inspector Suba Singh, ASI Gulbarg Singh and ASI Raghbir Singh.

All of them were convicted under sections 302 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code for murder and conspiracy to murder of seven people. Initially, 10 police personnel were accused in the case, but 5 died during the proceedings.

What was the matter?

In 1993, 7 people were killed in two fake encounters in different police stations of Tarn Taran, out of which 4 were posted as Special Police Officers (SPOs).

On 27 June 1993, these people were taken from their homes and kept in illegal detention for several days and tortured with difficult methods.

How did the CBI get the case?

On 28 July 1993, this fake encounter was conducted under the leadership of the then DSP Bhupinderjit Singh

•Separate FIRs were registered in the Vairowal police station and the Sahrali police station.

•On 12 December 1996, after the order of the Supreme Court, the case was handed over to the CBI.

What came out of the CBI investigation?

•On 2 July 1993, the police claimed that Shinder Singh, Desa Singh and Sukhdev Singh escaped with government weapons.

•On 12 July, the police killed Mangal Singh, Desa Singh, Shinder Singh and Balkar Singh by showing the incident of a fake encounter.

Two main results of the CBI investigation:

•The postmortem report revealed that these people were severely beaten before death.

•The forensic examination proved that the weapons used in the encounter were damaged and fake.

The bodies of these people were declared unclaimed and burnt, although they had been identified.

Appeal and pain of the victims’ families:

“I was pregnant when my husband was killed”:

Sukhdev Singh’s wife said that the police picked up her husband and killed him in a fake encounter. She was pregnant at the time. “I raised my children as laborers. I somehow managed to survive.”

“They took my husband from the roof, the body was not found”:

Chhinda Singh’s wife Narendra Kaur said, “The police took my husband from the roof of the house. The body has not been found till date. The family has suffered a lot.”