Gurdaspur teen's encounter: Families cry frame-up, police defend 'poetic justice' in case

GURDASPUR/CHANDIGARH: The family of 19-year-old Ranjit Singh, shot dead in an alleged police encounter on Wednesday in connection with the murder of two cops, has moved court seeking a special medical board to conduct a fresh postmortem.

"We have filed a petition requesting Gurdaspur district court to appoint a seven-member board of doctors for a videographed postmortem. Only then will we accept the body and cremate him," said Harwinder Singh, deceased's uncle.


According to police, Ranjit fled from custody, fired at cops and was killed in retaliation. Police reiterated that ASI Gurnam Singh and home guard Ashok Kumar were killed as part of an ISI plot, and fugitive accused, Inderjit Singh, 'recruited' Ranjit and Dilawar Singh to kill the cops. Dilawar is in police custody.

Harwinder Singh on Thursday asked police to produce evidence that Ranjit had links with Pakistan’s ISI. The family maintains that the allegations are baseless and intended to shield the real perpetrators.

Dilawar’s family also alleges he was framed. His father Dilbagh Singh, an exServiceman, said both youths belonged to “respectable, well-to-do families” and Dilawar works with an MNC in Delhi. “They are educated and had no reason to commit such a heinous act,” he said.

According to police, however, Dilawar has admitted his involvement in the crime. His father believes his son’s statement was recorded under pressure. The investigation appears one-sided and lacks transparency, he said.
Asked about the families’ allegations, Gurdaspur SSP Aditya on Thursday said police have sufficient evidence against the trio. The families’ emotional distress is understandable given the circumstances, he said, adding that multiple teams are working to trace and arrest Inderjit.

Asked how Ranjit managed to arrange the motorcycle and weapon in the 3.5 hours he was on the run, DIGBorder Range Sandeep Goel said, “The courts will look into the encounter. We will conduct the investigation in a professional manner. We have delivered poetic justiceto an accused who, at the behest of nefarious designs of Pakistan, was spreading terror and was tasked with killing policemen.”

Dismissing doubts being raised over the encounter, the DIG said, “We act as per law. We arrested him. He escaped and fired at our men.”

“It was Inderjit who was mostly in touch with the Pakistani handler, and got Ranjit to talk to him. More details will be clear after his arrest,” the DIG said. On questions being raised over police taking away CCTV cameras from Ranjit’s village, the DIG said, “We arrested him from the village and showed it on our records. We seized the CCTV cameras as they are evidence pertaining to the movement of the accused.What is illegal in that?”

According to police, Dilawar took Inderjit and Ranjit to the police check post on his motorcycle and waited outside as the other two shot the ASI and homeguard.

The DIG said, “Dilawar knew what Inderjit and Ranjit were up to. He has said they wanted to do something sensational, and their specific targets were the policemen.”

During the probe, Punjab police say they first followed leads from CCTV footage of two motorcycles and a Scorpio but nothing came of it.

After analysis of call dump, police focused their investigation on nearby villages and analysed CCTV footage of private cameras, an officer said. This led to vital leads that cracked the case, he added.must not be created without explicit consent.