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Chandigarh, October 21
The Justice Mehtab Singh Gill panel has recommended registration of a criminal conspiracy case against former Akali minister Sucha Singh Langah for implicating a transporter’s son in a drug case on “purely political grounds”. It has also suggested prosecution of then investigation officer.
The panel, comprising Justice Gill and former District and Sessions Judge BR Mehandiratta, was set up for looking into false cases registered during the past decade of the SAD-BJP government.
It recommended compensation for the victim and the recovery of the amount from the investigating officer. The cancellation of the FIR, too, has been recommended.
The order came on a complaint filed by Tarsem Raj regarding his son Sandeep Kumar’s implication under the NDPS Act. The case was registered on October 29, 2015, at Dera Baba Nanak police station in Batala district.
The panel, during the course of hearing, was told Sandeep was forcibly taken away in a car, which did not have a registration number, to the office of the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Dera Baba Nanak.
Tarsem had submitted a video to the panel that proved the police had forcibly taken away Sandeep, Justice Gill said.
He ruled that Tarsem’s statement made it clear that the FIR was registered on Langah’s direction so that he could be pressured to switch from the Congress to the SAD.
“We are of the opinion that this is a false case foisted on Sandeep by then SAD minister Sucha Singh Langah. Sandeep’s father Tarsem Raj is into the bus service business and is a staunch supporter of the Congress,” the panel said.
Justice Gill added that then investigating officer, SHO Satpal, should be prosecuted under Section 182 of the IPC. As for Langah, he should be booked under Section 120-B of the IPC for “conspiring with investigating officer to falsely implicate the complainant’s son”.
Section 182 deals with false information, with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person.
The case forms a part of the third interim report expected to be submitted early next week. Looking into more than 4,000 complaints, the commission has detected false implication and political vendetta in more than 62 per cent of the cases examined so far.
