High Court seeks response from Punjab govt, CBI in alleged fake encounter case

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday issued notices to the Punjab government and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), directing them to file their replies in the Mandaur police encounter case by the next date of hearing on July 17, after the summer vacation.

The case pertains to the alleged fake encounter of 22-year-old Jaspreet Singh, a resident of Shihan Daud village in Khanna. His mother, Baljit Kaur, has accused the police of killing her son in a staged encounter on March 13.

According to the police, Jaspreet Singh and his two accomplices, Harpreet Singh and Ravi Winder, were rounded up in Mandaur village in Nabha on March 14, while officers were searching for a seven-year-old boy reportedly abducted from Shihan Daud on March 12. The police claimed Jaspreet was killed in retaliatory firing during the operation.

Following the post-mortem report, the deceased’s family filed a petition in the high court on April 30, alleging the encounter was fake and demanded a court-monitored CBI probe.

A separate fact-finding investigation into the encounter is being carried out by the Democratic Lawyers Association. Members of the association said their report is nearly complete and will be released soon.