PUNE: Yadvinder Singh Pirzada was not in the court when he was acquitted on May 17 of the alleged conspiracy to murder General A.K. Vaidya, the retired Indian army chief. He was reading the Gurbani in the confines of his cell in Yervada Central Jail Pune when his lawyer told him the news.

Two hours later he was in a Gurdwara. “I am thankful it is the end of a horrible nightmare,” said Pirzada who was exported from Pune to Delhi by 14 Intelligence personal.

On March 30 this year, the designated judge, V.L. Ruikar acquitted two of the five main accused, Yadvinder and Avtar Singh Randhawa, the mayor of Durg, in the Pimpri case. The charges against Yadvinder in the Pimpri case were of general conspiracy read with conspiracy to attempt to murder and plotting to murder Gen Vaidya.

It was only when a CID man told him he was free to go, that Yadvinder heaved a sigh of relief.

A scion of a prominent family of Punjab, a student of the well-known Yadvindra Public School in Patiala and the Punjab University this innocent man was amongst the five main accused of the murder of Gen Vaidya.

3 Years In Jail

He has spent almost three years in jail since he was picked up by the police on Sept 24, 1986 at the beautiful hill resort of Kodaikanal an Indian Administrative Service Officer was the subcollector in Kodaikamal. 200 policemen took part in the raid.

The police had raided his house in Sector 18 in Chandigarh a few days prior to his arrest after claiming to have found a counterfoil of a bank draft allegedly sent to Sukha Singh the main accused in the Vaidya case for paying rent for a house in Pune.

Fabricated Confession

The Central Bureau of Investigation formed a theory that Yadvinder was the Chief conspirator to assassinate General Vaidya. “They did not even bother to check my handwriting, to assertion whether I had sent the draft,” Yadvinder said.

The police also claimed that Sukha Singh who was arrested on September 7 had in his “confession” told them that he knew ‘Yadvinder and that he would be in Kodaikanal.

“Tt was a fabricated confession full of holes,” said Yadvinder. He had left Chandigarh on September 15 for Delhi and then by plane to Madras. From there he took a bus to Kodaikanal. How could Sukhha Singh know on September 7 that I would be in Kodaikanal he added.

The police implicated him after a Sarabjit Singh Sekhon said he had picked up the car he was using advinder’s fathers house. The pol ice”the li raided the house and subsequently said they had recovered the alleged bank draft in that raid.

Tortured Every Day When he was brought to Pune by plane, Yadvinder recalls that the whole airport was filled with gun toting policemen. I remember cone of the Superintendents remarking that I was the biggest catch for them,” he said.

For the first month that he was in police custody. Yadvinder says that he was beaten and tortured almost everyday. “The jailors made me squat on the floor, and would keep stretching my legs till I howled in pain.”

On other occasions his hands would be handcuffed from behind and he would be pulled by a pulley.

“I was in fetters for the first month and sleeping was so difficult that I had to slide down the wall, to get to the ground,” he said. “I was forced to make confessions which I tried best to resist,” he said.

Magistrate Party To Everything

Yadvinder alleges all the four accused in the Vaidya case were forced to make their confessions to the magistrate S.L. Khatide, who was in fact party to everything.

Life in jail was hell for Yadvinder. For one whole year he was not allowed to step out. The jail authorities kept four lights of 100 watts each in his cell to prevent him from sleeping.

“My cell was in the phansi yard (death row) and in my two and half year stay, I saw three hangings.” he said.

Soon after this, the Punjab Government made him an National Security Act detainee, but he was subsequently cleared by an advisory committee.

Even though the state had gone in appeal against the judge’s decision, the Supreme Court confirmed the judgment in May.

It was on Wednesday that Ruikar ruled that a person once acquitted or convicted could not be. tried for the same offense. Both the issues were the same as the ones in Pimpn, he said.

“The entire thing was just meant to harass me and my family. Right from the beginning, the CBI had no case. In their attempt to tie up loose ends, they failed,” said Yadvinder.

Hundreds Of Innocent In Jail

Yadvinder strongly feels that there are hundreds of innocent people in jail with false charges against them.

“I had the money and means to fight for my rights but the rest cannot afford them,” he said.

Yadvinder who is a sarpanch in Pirkot village, Bhatinda is unsure of his plans for the future.

Article extracted from this publication >>  May 26, 1989