Raka Ghirra conviction: How DSP’s reader-turned- approver tilted the scales

With the court of special judge (CBI Court) Jagjit Singh sentencing former Punjab DSP Raka Ghirra to six years of rigorous imprisonment this week, a perusal of the 123-page judgment reveals how the statements of Prosecution Witness 6, Manmohan Singh, the DSP’s reader and initially an accused in the case, were crucial, leading to the senior officer’s conviction.

The former reader was arrested along with the DSP, but later turned approver before the CBI in 2012. After the court accepted his plea to become approver, his name was dropped from the FIR and not included in the chargesheet filed in the case.

In his statements before the trial court, Manmohan Singh, deposed that in January 2011 an application by Dr Nirmala Brar was received in the office of DSP, City-I, SAS Nagar, Mohali, which was marked to Ghirra. On June 15, 2011, he was told by head constable Gurmail Singh – who was the DSP’s gunman – that Ghirra had directed him to record the statements of realtor Kishan Kumar Malhotra and his partner, and to also demand ₹2 lakh for settling all cases registered against him.

He also allegedly facilitated a telephonic conversation between Malhotra and Ghirra on the mobile phone of Gurmail. The former reader added that on July 18, 2011, he ensured that a report was drafted in Malhotra’s favour on Ghirra’s directions. The report, which was duly signed by Ghirra, was sent to the office of SSP, SAS Nagar, Mohali, who sent it back with objections on July 21, 2022.

On July 24, 2011, the CBI raided their office and seized Dr Nirmala Brar’s application and other documents. In 2011, the CBI arrested Ghirra from her residence in Sector 15, Chandigarh, for accepting a ₹1-lakh bribe from Malhotra to settle the case.