Ropar, April 21
A local court has ordered framing of charges against Punjab DGP SK Sharma and others in a 24-year-old kidnapping case. Additional district and sessions judge KS Sullar rejected a plea filed by Sharma for discharging him in the case and fixed May 6 as the date for framing charges. Sharma was recently elevated to the rank of DGP.

The other accused in the case are Balkar Singh, the then SHO of the Morinda police station, DIG SPS Basra and ASI Gurcharan Singh.

The victim, Kuldip Singh (21) was allegedly kidnapped by Punjab police personnel on October 24, 1990 from Krishna Mandi in Morinda. Kuldip was pursuing graduation from Punjabi University in Patiala at that time.

While victim’s father Ajaib Singh made desperate attempts to locate his son, the police kept on denying that Kuldip was in its custody. On May 15, 1991, Ajaib Singh read a report in The Tribune that had a statement issued on the behalf of the then Patiala SSP SK Sharma that one Kuldip of Amrali village falling under the Morinda police station had been killed in an encounter on May 1. Ajaib Singh then approached the authorities and then finally a case was registered under Section 364 and 34 of the IPC in 1998 against the four accused.