The Punjab and Haryana High Court has taken suo motu notice of the controversial police encounter in Gurdaspur district that led to the death of 19-year-old Ranjit Singh last week. A division bench of Justices Anupinder Singh Grewal and Deepak Manchanda has directed Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav to appear before the court through video conferencing on Thursday. The court had also asked him to file a detailed reply explaining the sequence of events.
The matter will be heard along with an unrelated case regarding gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s jail interview. Court sources said the bench has asked DGP Yadav to be ready with all facts about the incident, including the circumstances that led to the February 25 shooting.
Ranjit Singh was one of three individuals named by the police in the sensational double murder on February 22. Assistant Sub-Inspector Gurnam Singh and Home Guard jawan Ashok Kumar were shot dead at a joint checkpost in Adhian village, just 2 km from the Pakistan border.
Investigating team described the attack as an operation orchestrated by Pakistan’s ISI to spread terror. Police claimed the three youths were paid around Rs 20,000 to carry out the attack. Dilawar Singh was apprehended soon after the incident, while Inderjit Singh was later arrested from Amritsar. Ranjit, however, was declared dead in an “encounter” three days after the killings of the police personnel.
As per official police version, Ranjit was already in custody on February 24. He was taken by the police to recover the weapon used in the double murder. During the operation near Puranashala, he allegedly tried to escape and opened fire on the escorting police team. A senior officer was injured in the firing, after which the police retaliated and Ranjit was shot dead.
Ranjit’s family has rejected the police version. They claim he was picked up from his house on February 24 only for questioning and was later killed while in custody. The family has alleged that the encounter was staged to quickly close the high-profile case. They have also raised questions about the removal of CCTV cameras from the area and sought a proper post-mortem and an independent investigation.
Ranjit’s body had still not been handed over to the family for the last rites.
The high court stepped in just days after a Gurdaspur judicial magistrate passed orders to preserve crucial evidence. These include call records, GPS data of all the officers involved and footage from the encounter site. The magistrate also directed a medical board to examine whether the injury suffered by the police officer was self-inflicted.
This is the second time in recent weeks that the Punjab and Haryana High Court has taken suo motu notice in a sensitive criminal matter. Earlier, the court had stepped in after the murder of kabaddi promoter Rana Balachauria in Mohali.
Senior police officials have so far maintained that the encounter was genuine and that Ranjit had fired first. The DGP’s appearance before the court at 2 pm is expected to present the official version of the events along with records of the operation.
The development has also triggered fresh political reactions in Punjab. Opposition parties have renewed their demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation and have described the incident as another example of alleged high-handedness by the state police.
Also read: ISI role in Gurdaspur killings under probe: DIG
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