A Special CBI Court in Mohali has summoned five Punjab police personnel to stand trial in the alleged assault case involving serving army colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath and his son, citing serious lapses in the initial investigation by the Patiala police flagged by the federal probe agency. The trial proceedings are to start on March 16.
Those summoned include inspectors Ronni Singh, Hary Boparai, Harjinder Singh Dhillon and Shaminder Singh; and constable Jai Singh to face trial under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) including Sections 115 (2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 351 (2) (criminal intimidation), 117 (2) (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and 126 (2) (wrongful restraint).
If convicted, accused cops face jail term of up to seven years.
However, the BNS section of 109 (attempt to murder), initially added by Patiala Police, has been dropped by the CBI apparently on the opinion of a medical board of All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), Delhi, which examined medical record of the colonel and his son and opined that “injuries were grievous in nature but does not endanger life.”
The order passed on January 17, also records serious lapses found by the CBI in the initial investigation conducted by the Patiala police.
The alleged incident took place on the intervening night of March 13 and 14 last year, when Colonel Bath and his son were eating at a roadside dhaba (eatery) in Patiala. The army officer, in his complaint, alleged that the cops in civvies asked him to move his car, as they had to park theirs. When the colonel objected to their rude tone, the officers thrashed him and his son. In his complaint, he alleged that the assailants — four inspector-rank officers of the Punjab Police and their armed subordinates —attacked him and his son without provocation, snatched his ID card and mobile phone, and threatened him with a ‘fake encounter’, all in public view and under CCTV camera coverage.
The colonel suffered a broken arm, while his son had a cut on his head. The case was originally investigated by the Punjab Police before the high court, which, on April 3, handed it over to Chandigarh Police on a plea filed by the colonel, who sought a probe by CBI or an independent agency. A special investigation team (SIT) led by Chandigarh Police SP Manjeet Sheoran was constituted on April 11 to probe the matter. However, on July 16, the Punjab and Haryana high court entrusted the probe to CBI and said that it cannot be a mute spectator to the conduct of the investigating agency in conducting the probe in a “tainted manner”. On July 25, CBI’s Delhi unit, instead of the regional unit of CBI in Chandigarh, registered two separate FIRs in the case, with one from Colonel Bath’s side and the other from the dhaba owner in Patiala.
As per the CBI, Col Bath and his son were travelling from Delhi to Patiala and stopped near Harbans Dhaba around 12.15 am. The agency stated that three vehicles came from the wrong side of the road and blocked the colonel’s car. An altercation followed, during which the accused police personnel, who were allegedly in plain clothes, assaulted the colonel and his son and damaged their vehicle.
Laxity in probe at initial stage
In its findings, the CBI pointed out several lapses in the manner in which the Patiala police handled the case at the initial stage. According to the agency, despite the injured army officer giving a detailed statement on March 14, 2025, naming the assailants, the local police recorded it only as a Daily Diary Report (DDR) and did not register an FIR on his complaint. Instead, the first FIR in the matter was registered on the statement of a dhaba owner who was not even present at the spot when the incident occurred, even as the victim’s family ran from pillar to post to get an FIR registered. The FIR was registered after eight days, only after mounting public pressure.
CBI also pointed out that Inspector Amritveer Singh, then SHO of the police station civil lines, Patiala, visited the place of occurrence in the afternoon of March 14, 2025. During his visit, he noticed that CCTV cameras installed at a nearby eatery, Bawa Dhaba, were also covering the scene of the incident. As the CCTV monitor at Bawa Dhaba was not functioning, inspector Amritveer Singh stated that he recorded the relevant CCTV footage on his mobile phone using the mobile phone of the dhaba owner, who had access to the DVR-linked footage. However, the DVR of Bawa Dhaba was later found to be missing. The dhaba owner stated during the investigation that some unknown police personnel visited his dhaba around 4 pm on March 14, 2025, and took away the DVR without issuing any receipt or seizure memo. Despite efforts made during the investigation, the DVR could not be traced or recovered.
The CBI further sent the mobile phone of Inspector Amritveer Singh to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh, for examination. As per the forensic report, the relevant video files were found to be re-recorded from a display monitor.
‘Will challenge dropping of attempt to murder charge’
Jaswinder Kaur Bath, wife of Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath, said their counsel would challenge the decision to drop the attempt to murder charge during the trial.
“Our lawyers will challenge this during the trial. We want all the sections of BNS mentioned in the FIR to be added to the challan. The Punjab and Haryana high court has already, in its order relating to this case, mentioned that wooden sticks used by a trained force were a lethal weapon. So, an attempt to murder should be imposed,” she said. (With inputs from HTC, Patiala)
GFX
Headline: Probe agency findings
FIR not registered immediately despite injuries to the complainant and his son
Detailed statement of colonel dated March 14, 2025, was acted upon only after eight days
Initial FIR registered on the statement of a dhaba owner who was not even present at the spot when the incident occurred
DVR from Bawa Dhaba, adjoining the place of occurrence, containing relevant footage, went missing. DVR allegedly taken by unknown police personnel without a seizure memo or receipt
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