Chandigarh: The postmortem report of Ranjit Singh, who was killed in an alleged police encounter in Punjab, has stated that the cause of death was a bullet injury. However, the family has expressed dissatisfaction with the findings and maintained that he died due to custodial torture.
Family members said they would comment on the report only after watching the videography of the postmortem examination.
While the report appears to support the police version, questions remain over how Ranjit Singh, who was reportedly in handcuffs, managed to obtain a motorcycle and a pistol allegedly used to fire at Gurmeet Singh during the encounter.
Ranjit Singh’s uncle Harvinder Singh Mallhi has repeatedly alleged that the youth died during interrogation while in police custody.
The postmortem examination was conducted on March 3 at the civil hospital in Gurdaspur in the presence of chief judicial magistrate Surekha Dadwal.
The court had also sought CCTV footage from cameras installed near the alleged encounter site at Purana Shala, around 25 kilometres from the location where the police jeep had reportedly overturned.
Police earlier claimed that Ranjit Singh managed to escape after the vehicle carrying him for the recovery of weapons overturned, following which an encounter took place.
The autopsy was conducted by a team of doctors from Government Medical College Amritsar, including Dr Sukhdeep Singh (medical officer), Dr Satinder Pal Singh (associate professor) and Dr Harsh Kumar (senior resident).
