Former Punjab Police DSP Jaspal Singh, serving a life sentence in the 1995 abduction and murder case of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, could not be traced at the address mentioned in Nabha jail records, officials said on Friday. He was released on interim bail in 2023.
The address verification was carried out after prison authorities sought confirmation following renewed public attention on the Khalra case after the release and subsequent removal of the film Satluj from ZEE5. The film is based on Khalra's life.
Assistant Sub-Inspector Jaswinder Singh of Sadar Police Station said the jail authorities asked the police to verify whether Jaspal Singh was living in Manjhi village in Hoshiarpur district, as mentioned in the prison records.
When the police visited the village, the sarpanch and local residents told them that Jaspal Singh was not staying there, the officer said.
Station House Officer (SHO) Baljinder Singh Malhi said Jaspal Singh was released from Nabha Jail on interim bail on May 27, 2023, following a court order. During verification, police found that he was not residing at the address listed in the jail documents.
Satluj, starring Diljit Dosanjh as Jaswant Singh Khalra, was earlier titled Punjab '95. The film was released on ZEE5 on July 3 but was removed from the platform two days later.
Directed by Honey Trehan, the film portrays Khalra's probe into the alleged illegal cremation of thousands of bodies that police had recorded as "unidentified" during the militancy period in Punjab.
Khalra was abducted outside his home in Amritsar in September 1995. Investigators later concluded that he had been murdered, although his body was never recovered.
In November 2005, a CBI court sentenced former DSP Jaspal Singh and ASI Amarjit Singh to life imprisonment. Four other police personnel were awarded seven-year jail terms in the case.
In 2007, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Amarjit Singh but enhanced the sentences of the remaining four convicts to life imprisonment. The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's decision in 2011.
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has rejected the Opposition's allegation that the Punjab Government recommended the premature release of Jaspal Singh.
The political controversy began after senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia alleged that the AAP government had recommended remission of Jaspal Singh's sentence, facilitated his release and failed to trace him after he was granted interim bail.
Responding to the allegations, Punjab AAP media in-charge Baltej Pannu said applications seeking premature release in CBI cases are decided by the Ministry of Home Affairs and not by the Punjab Government.
Pannu said Jaspal Singh's first remission application was sent to the Home Ministry in 2017 and was rejected in 2018. The Governor also rejected the plea. He added that another recommendation was forwarded to the ministry in 2019, while similar applications filed by the remaining surviving co-convicts were rejected in 2023.
Pannu said the matter was again referred to the Home Ministry in October 2023. Since then, the Punjab Government has not received any proposal in the case.
"When the Punjab Government has not received any proposal from the Home Ministry, how can the Chief Minister approve any file or send it to the Governor?" Pannu said, denying that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had cleared any remission proposal.
Also read: SGPC holds protest, seeks lifting of ban on film 'Satluj'
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