A special CBI court in Mohali on Wednesday, November 11 convicted former Tarn Taran Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gurmeet Singh Randhawa for his role in the 1992 abduction of Ludhiana transporter Amrik Singh Sakri, bringing a verdict in a disappearance case that has run for nearly 34 years. Special Judge Dinesh Kumar Wadhwa found Randhawa guilty under Section 365 of the Indian Penal Code, which covers kidnapping or abduction with intent to secretly and wrongfully confine a person, and Section 120-B, which covers criminal conspiracy.

Source: Mirror Now

The court acquitted co-accused constable Parminderjit Singh, also known as Babbu, giving him the benefit of the doubt. The quantum of sentence for Randhawa will be pronounced on Thursday, November 12, the court said.

Source: Face2News

What happened in 1992

According to the prosecution, Sakri was picked up on November 25, 1992 by a Tarn Taran police team from Hotel Amaltas in Ludhiana, where he had gone to attend a family wedding. The team was led by Gurmeet Singh, who was then posted in Tarn Taran as a deputy superintendent of police. Sakri was never seen again. His family approached senior police officials, sent telegrams and appealed to the then Chief Minister, Beant Singh, to intervene, but those efforts brought no result, the CBI investigation recorded.

How the case reached the CBI

Sakri's wife filed a habeas corpus petition before the Supreme Court in 1996; his son Devinder Singh also filed an affidavit about the abduction, and the Supreme Court ordered an inquiry on November 15, 1995 in a writ petition filed by Paramjeet Kaur, reports of the proceedings said. During the Supreme Court proceedings the state government maintained that Sakri had died and placed obituary notices of his bhog ceremony on record, a claim the family contested. The case then came under the CBI investigation the Supreme Court ordered into the cremation of large numbers of unidentified bodies by the Punjab Police.

The CBI began a preliminary inquiry in January 1999 and registered a regular case in February 2000. A chargesheet followed in 2001 against five police personnel: Gurmeet Singh, then Khalra police station SHO Inspector Suba Singh, Sub-Inspector Surinder Singh, Constable Parminderjit Singh and Assistant Sub-Inspector Jaswant Singh. The chargesheet named then SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu as the alleged mastermind of the conspiracy; he died during the investigation. The accused were charged under IPC Sections 120-B, 220, 364, 365 and 218, covering criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, illegal confinement and manipulation of official records.

Source: Jugti

A trial that began 22 years after charges were framed

Although charges were framed in 2000, proceedings stayed stalled for more than two decades because of petitions filed by the accused police officials in higher courts, and the trial could begin only in 2022. After the trial began, key material — police logbooks of the vehicles used, wedding photographs and video recordings, and witness statements — went missing from the court record and was later reconstructed following directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Of the 47 witnesses the CBI listed, only 16 could depose, as many had died during the long delay. Three of the five chargesheeted officers — Suba Singh, Surinder Singh and Jaswant Singh — also died before the trial concluded, and proceedings against them were dropped.

Why the verdict matters, and what happens next

The conviction closes another long-pending case linked to alleged illegal detentions and disappearances during Punjab's terrorism-affected period, and it is the first judicial finding that Sakri was abducted by a police team — the position his family maintained from the Supreme Court to the CBI court for three decades. What happens next: the special CBI court pronounces Randhawa's sentence on Thursday, November 12. Awaaz Punjab will report the sentence when it is announced.