Murder of dy dera head: VB arrests DSP for taking ₹20 lakh bribe to renominate prime accused
On November 7, 2019, Baba Dayal Das, deputy head of Harka Das Dera at Kot Sukhia village in Faridkot district, was shot dead; police linked the murder to a succession war in the 80-year-old dera
The state vigilance bureau (VB) on Wednesday arrested a Punjab Police deputy superintendent of police (DSP) for allegedly taking a bribe of ₹20 lakh to renominate the prime accused whom the cops had declared innocent earlier, in a 2019 murder case.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP-VB) Ferozepur range Gurmeet Singh confirmed the development. The accused DSP, Sushil Kumar, was posted at the third IBR in Ludhiana.
In June, then Faridkot SP (investigation) Gagnesh Kumar, then Faridkot DSP Sushil Kumar, sub-inspector (SI) Khem Chand Prashar, who was posted as in-charge of RTI branch of Faridkot IG office, Jaswinder Singh of Faridkot city and Malkeet Das of Bir Sikhan Wala village in Faridkot were booked for allegedly taking a bribe of ₹20 lakh to renominate the “prime accused” in the murder case of Baba Dayal Das, deputy head of Harka Das Dera at Kot Sukhia village in Faridkot district.
A case was registered under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 7, 7A, 8 and 13(1)(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act at the Kotkapura Sadar police station. The case has been registered on the complaint of Gagan Dass of Kot Sukhia.
The FIR was lodged on the bases of probe of the special investigation team (SIT) led by the deputy inspector general of police (DIG), Ferozepur range, Ranjit Singh, which had found loopholes in the 2019 murder case probe.
On November 7, 2019, two shooters shot dead Baba Dayal Das, the deputy head of Harka Das Dera at Kot Sukhia village in Faridkot district.
Faridkot police named Jarnail Das, head of another dera branch at Kapurewala village in Moga, as mastermind of the murder. Police had linked the murder to a succession war in the 80-year-old dera that has 12 branches in Punjab and Uttarakhand. The probe had found that Jarnail hatched the conspiracy to kill Dayal, but Punjab Police never arrested him and later gave him a clean chit.
In April, Gagan Das, who is officiating as in-charge of the dera since the death of Hari Das in May 2020, filed a complaint with the Punjab DGP alleging that cops “wrongly” declared “prime accused” Jarnail as innocent and accused Faridkot cops of taking bribe of ₹20 lakh to “re-nominate the prime accused” in the murder case.
Following the complaint, a three-member SIT-led by DIG Ranjit Singh was constituted, which has found that officers took bribe.
On Tuesday, the Kotkapura police renamed Janail Dass as the main conspirator. This came after Ranjit Singh-led SIT wrote the Faridkot police to name him as the prime accused in this case saying the cops ignored the facts in this case while giving him a clean chit.
