Published on: Dec 21, 2025 07:34 am IST
A CBI court in Mohali acquitted Mayor Amarjit Singh Sidhu in a 15-year-susceptible execute case, citing inadequate proof to point to his involvement.
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A special CBI court in Mohali on Saturday acquitted metropolis mayor Amarjit Singh Sidhu in a 15-year-susceptible execute case, ruling that the prosecution didn’t point to his involvement in the killing beyond sensible doubt.
The case relates to the execute of Rattan Singh, who modified into shot uninteresting in Bariyali village stop to Kharar on December 18, 2010. The firing incident additionally left four other individuals of the complainant’s household injured.
Following the incident, police registered an FIR at the Balongi police train under sections linked to execute, are trying to execute, unlawful assembly, criminal conspiracy and the Fingers Act on December 19, 2010.
In step with the FIR lodged by Rattan’s son Harjinder Singh, the incident took place spherical 9.15 pm when his cousin Gurpreet Singh had gone to buy documents from a vehicle parked originate air the dwelling of Kulwant Singh, then sarpanch of Bariyali.
A confrontation adopted, for the length of which Kulwant, his brother Dilawar Singh, Amarjit Singh Sidhu and others allegedly opened fire on the complainant social gathering. Rattan sustained a gunshot pain to the pinnacle and later died at the Mohali civil scientific institution, while the alternative injured had been referred to PGIMER, Chandigarh.
The FIR accused Kulwant and Dilawar of firing the images. Amarjit modified into named for his alleged position in the conspiracy. Police later additionally booked his brother Balbir Singh Sidhu, who modified into the sitting Congress MLA from Kharar at the time, under charges of criminal conspiracy.
Harjinder later alleged that the investigation did no longer proceed moderately and that the police didn’t steal effective circulate in opposition to the influential accused. He claimed that Balbir aged his political situation to influence the probe and defend his brother. The complainant additionally alleged that police officials pressured him to enter into a compromise.
Citing threat to his lifestyles and lack of self belief in the investigation, Harjinder had approached the Punjab and Haryana excessive court, attempting for protection and a transfer of the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The excessive court, while listening to the petition, had noticed serious deficiencies in the police investigation.
On October 12, 2012, justice Paramjit Singh ordered that the case be handed over to the CBI. The court recorded that the Mohali senior superintendent of police (SSP) had didn’t honour his mission that the special investigation team (SIT) would habits a beautiful probe. The court additionally brushed off the bail plea of accused Kulwant, looking out at that he modified into allegedly in tag for firing the fatal shot.
The excessive court renowned that the initial police investigation suffered from more than one lapses, including delays in recording statements of eyewitnesses, failure to ship recovered weapons for forensic examination, non-production of the challan all throughout the prescribed time and failure to steal the accused on remand.
The CBI due to the this reality conducted a fresh investigation and filed its document sooner than the trial court. In the course of the prolonged trial, the prosecution tried to set that Amarjit had performed an active position in the conspiracy in the encourage of the execute.
On the alternative hand, after analyzing the proof, the special CBI court concluded that the prosecution didn’t set his position in either the firing or the alleged conspiracy. The court held that the proof produced modified into inadequate to learn a conviction, leading to his acquittal. The detailed judgment is awaited. The ruling in opposition to the rest accused will likely be pronounced on December 24.
Court docket records existing that the motive in the encourage of the execute stemmed from a lengthy-standing land dispute and litigation linked to the appointment of Kulwant as sarpanch. The contention between the two facets had persisted for years sooner than culminating in the firing incident.
