Punjab police murders: Court orders preservation of call records & GPS data of cops involved in death of teen suspect

Gurdaspur : A local court has directed telecom companies to preserve the GPS locations and call detail records (CDRs) of all Punjab Police personnel involved in the alleged shootout in which 18-year-old Ranjit Singh, who is accused of murdering two cops, was shot dead on Feb 25.After the court order, Ranjit's family finally agreed to a postmortem.
While police say Ranjit was killed in retaliatory firing after he shot at cops, his family insists he was framed in the case and shot dead in cold blood. His mother, Sukhjinder Kaur, filed a petition in court under Section 196 of BNSS, seeking a judicial enquiry into his death, a videographed post-mortem by an ‘independent medical board', preservation of evidence, and an ‘independent investigation'.The application also sought examination of the gunshot injury of inspector Gurmeet Singh, who was hurt in the alleged gunfight in which Ranjit was killed. She wants preservation of medical records and forensic samples related to Gurmeet, who was in charge of the criminal investigation agency (CIA) team, and other police personnel.After hearing her plea, judicial magistrate Nirmala Devi on Monday directed all police officials mentioned in the application —Gurdaspur SSP, SHOs of Dorangla and Purana Shala, CIA in charge Gurmeet Singh, and other police personnel who were involved in this encounter and present at the location — to give details of their phone numbers to the investigating officer.The court also directed the telecom company to preserve all call details and GPS locations of these officers and Ranjit from Feb 20, 2026, to Feb 28, 2026. CCTV footage from around the vicinity is to be preserved as well, and made part of the investigation, the court said.The judicial magistrate directed Gurdaspur senior medical officer to constitute a three-member board of doctors to conduct Gurmeet's medical examination, and give a detailed report to the magistrate regarding the bullet injury on his arm. The court clearly directed the board to declare if it was self-inflicted or otherwise.A day after the court order, Ranjit's family consented to the postmortem on Tuesday. His family had refused to accept his body till now.Ranjit was one of three suspects in the Feb 21 killing of two cops at a police post in Adhian village, just 1km from the Pakistan border. While the double murder sparked statewide outrage, the encounter in the early hours of Feb 26 drew sharp scrutiny.Dilbagh Singh, father of one of the two suspects in police custody, confirmed that Ranjit's postmortem was conducted during the day. At the family's request, the body was shown to relatives before the procedure. A team of doctors and lawyers was present at the hospital. Heavy police deployment was in place.Dilbagh's son, Dilawar, was arrested on the same day that Ranjit was nabbed. The third suspect, Inderjit Singh, was arrested on Feb 27.MSID:: 128978893 413 |Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Holi wishes, messages and quotes !