CBI to look into 2009 Tarn Taran deaths

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look into the 2009 case of deaths of three Tarn Taran youths in which Akali MP Ranjit Singh Brahmpura and his son Ravinder Singh Brahmpura are facing allegations of shielding the alleged accused.

Ravinder Brahmpura is the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate for the Khadoor Sahib assembly bypoll slated for February 13.

The high court passed the order on a petition by the mother of the two deceased, Gurmeet Kaur, who had approached the high court in 2010, seeking the transfer of the 2009 case to the CBI. The SAD MP was named as party in the petition.

The petitioner has alleged that one of the accused, Ranjit Singh Rana, was a close aide of Brahmpuras, so he was being shielded by the father-son duo.

Three youths, Prabhjit Singh and Karamjit Singh and Jaimal Singh, had died in an alleged accident in November 2009. The family had suspected role of Rana with whom they were involved in a land dispute. The family had also alleged harassment by Rana. 

“The accused are extremely influential and have a history of committing crimes, including murders in the village and surrounding areas. They exercise a reign of terror in the area due their close connection with Ranjit Singh Brahmpura of the ruling party SAD,” the petitioner claimed.

Her counsel Rajvinder Singh Bains said the high court had directed the CBI to probe the matter as the state police have failed to carry out proper investigation into the case. “There is a ray of hope for justice for the victims’ family now as the case has been transferred to the CBI,” Bains said.

The detailed order in the case is awaited. He claimed police kept on dilly-dallying in the case even when the matter reached the high court. In 2014, the HC constituted a medical board, which opined that the injuries reported on deceased persons could not be caused in a single accident.