The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Saturday, January 20, 2001,
Chandigarh, India

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Pinki surrenders to police
From Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Jan 19 — After a drama full of suspense and uncertainty lasting more than 10 days, Gurmeet Singh, alias Pinki, the main accused in the Avtar Singh murder case surrendered to the police at about 11.30 a.m. here today.

According to the SSP, Mr Kuldip Singh, the accused surrendered before him at his residence. He was hiding all these days in places like Mumbai and Hazoor Sahib or travelling in trains to elude arrest. He was sent to Division No. 5 police station and would be interrogated by district police officials before being presented in a district court.

The SSP declined to give more details about the places where the accused had hidden all these days or the persons, including police officials, who were instrumental in his arrest. He said he had not talked much with the accused.

Sources, however, indicate that Pinki had surrendered last late night and was questioned by senior officials. It has also been reliably learnt that a police official of another district along with two residents of this city, an advocate and a retired police official, were instrumental in Pinki’s surrender.

With his surrender, five accused in the murder case are behind the bars.The other accused arrested are Bittu Gill, Paramjit Singh Pammi, Jaswant Singh Punna and Sonu. It is expected that the three remaining accused — Pawan Kumar ASI, Parveen Kumar and Simarjit Singh, both constables — will also produce themselves shortly before the police.

The five-member panel set up to interrogate him includes SP Gursharan Singh Sandhu, SP (D) Gurkirpal Singh, DSP(H) Gurnam Singh, DSP Harmanbir Singh and DSP Manjit Singh.

Ever since the shootout of January 7 night resulting in the death of 21-year-old youth Avtar Singh, Pinki had been playing hide and seek with the police. The police worked on two fronts — on raiding possible hideouts and detaining close relatives of the fugitive.

Reports of his possible surrender kept the police and the media interested since last evening. Confusion prevailed with reports emanating from different quarters giving different versions of his possible place and time of surrender. While at one stage it was said that he may surrender in a local court, other reports claimed that he may either surrender before the Punjab Director-General of Police or at some other district police headquarters.

At one time, the media and a substantial number of policemen had descended on the courts premises in the afternoon in anticipation of the accused cop’s surrender there. However, it only proved to be a hoax. Later, the entire media and police contingent camped outside the residence of a judge awaiting the appearance of the accused.

Pinki who was a dangerous and deadly police cat during the heyday of militancy was visibly subdued after the surrender. His surrender culminated the series of surrenders of the five accused in the case, who, in a unique pattern, appeared, individually, before the police every alternate day.

Arrest of 2 cops stirs up hornet’s nest
By Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 19 — The coincidental arrest of two “controversial” policemen — Gurmeet Singh, alias Pinky, by the Ludhiana police after his surrender in the Avtar Singh murder case and Joginder Singh by the Sangrur police in the Jaswinder Kaur “Jassi” murder case — on the same day today has stirred up a hornet’s nest.

Though suspected involvement of policemen in heinous crime — from constable to the highest rank — is nothing new, there has been an upward swing in the number of such cases not only in Punjab but also in neighbouring Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

It was a mere coincidence that both cops taken into custody today had been reduced to the rank of Head Constable. Gurmeet Singh, alias Pinky, was an Inspector and Joginder Singh, a Sub-Inspector. The other thing common in both cases is the “closeness of these policemen to high-ups in the department”.

Though the Punjab police headquarters here maintains that records about the involvement of policemen — up to the rank of Sub-Inspector — in criminal or disciplinary cases are maintained by the district police concerned, all senior officers of the state police are reportedly generally aware about the activities and connections of their “one-time subordinates”.

A perusal of the records makes interesting study. In the past two years, not even a single Inspector in Punjab has been involved in a criminal or disciplinary case. The only exception is a Deputy Superintendent of Police, who had been given the rank under the Own Rank and Pay (ORP) provision.

This Deputy Superintendent of Police, originally of the rank of Inspector, had allegedly shown poor leadership in a case in which a Head Constable was killed by a mob at Moga. In June last year, he was given a warning as punishment.

The most significant of serious criminal cases registered against a Deputy Superintendent of Police last year was at Jagraon, where a minor girl was allegedly raped in February. On March 7, this Deputy Superintendent of Police was dismissed from service.

Though one more DSP was dismissed from service last year, the case against him was registered way back in 1993 in Majitha police district. The dismissal was ordered in October.

Two other Deputy Superintendents of Police were given simple warnings as punishment for either “negligence” or for seeking “favours” and not following the civil service rules.

Such cases, however, do not reflect the ground realities. There have been numerous cases against policemen holding various posts. These cases, registered during the past four years, have nothing to do with either “terrorism” or “combatting terrorism”.

These cases pertain to attempt to molest, extortion, rape, abduction, kidnapping, attempt to murder, and murder, besides involvement in trafficking in drugs, and arms and ammunition. These cases are at various stages, including the presentation of challans, in courts.

What has been disturbing top officers of the Police Department has been the allegations made by some of the cops arrested in recent years against their “superiors”, going to the extent of accusing them of “using them (arrested or wanted policemen) even to do unlawful things”.

The Punjab police has been rocked by a series of such complaints and cases against its men and officers during the past few months. And in some of these cases, policemen-turned-“suspects” have thrown restraint to the winds to “accuse” their much higher superiors of “unlawful activities”.

“Why should the media play up allegations made by an accused or a suspect?” retorts a senior police officer, “condemning the new trend of washing the department’s dirty linen in public.”