Ex-DSP convicted in Khalra case not found at address in jail records; AAP denies remission claim

Hoshiarpur (Punjab), Jul 10 (PTI) Former Punjab Police DSP Jaspal Singh, a life convict in the 1995 abduction and murder of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra who was released on bail in 2023, could not be found at the village address mentioned in the Nabha jail records, officials said on Friday. The verification followed a request from the prison authorities amid renewed public attention on the Khalra case after the release, and subsequent takedown, of the film ‘Satluj’ from ZEE5, which is based on the activist's life. Assistant Sub-Inspector Jaswinder Singh of Sadar police station said the jail authorities through an official communication sought to verify if Jaspal Singh was living at Manjhi village in Hoshiarpur district, as mentioned in his jail records. When police went to the village, the sarpanch and residents told them that Jaspal Singh was not living there, the ASI said. SHO Baljinder Singh Malhi said Jaspal Singh was released from the Nabha jail on interim bail on May 27, 2023, under a court order. The verification established that he was not living at the address mentioned in the jail documents, he said. ‘Satluj’ starring Diljit Dosanjh Daljit as Khalra, which was earlier titled ‘Punjab '95’, was released on ZEE5 on July 3 before being removed from the platform two days later. Directed by Honey Trehan, the film depicts Khalra's investigation into the “illegal” cremation of thousands of bodies claimed as “unidentified” by police during the militancy period in the state. Khalra was abducted from in front of his house in Amritsar in September 1995. He was later found to have been murdered though his body was never found. In November 2005, a CBI court sentenced former DSP Jaspal Singh and ASI Amarjit Singh to life imprisonment, while four other police personnel were handed seven-year jail terms in the case. In 2007, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Amarjit Singh while enhancing the sentences of the four other convicts to life imprisonment, a decision that the Supreme Court upheld in 2011. Amid the ongoing row, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has rejected the opposition’s allegations that the Punjab government moved a proposal for Jaspal Singh's premature release. The political controversy was triggered after senior Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia alleged that the AAP government sought remission of Jaspal Singh's sentence, facilitated his release, and failed to trace him after he was granted interim bail. Punjab AAP media in-charge Baltej Pannu said that any application for premature release in a CBI case is decided by the Ministry of Home Affairs, and not the Punjab government. Jaspal Singh's remission application was filed before the home ministry in 2017, which was rejected in 2018, after which the governor also rejected the plea, Pannu said. Another recommendation was forwarded to the home ministry in 2019, while similar applications of the other surviving co-convicts were rejected in 2023, he said. The matter was again referred to the ministry in October 2023, and no proposal had since been received by the Punjab government, the AAP leader said. “When the Punjab government did not receive any application from the home ministry, how can the chief minister sign any file or send it to the governor?” Pannu said, denying that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann approved any such remission proposal. PTI COR VSD ARI