LUDHIANA: The International Human Rights Organization (IHRO) has alleged that the Jagraon police, after torturing to death in custody the former Jathedar of the Akal, Takht, Bhai Gurdev Singh Kaonke, had thrown his body into the Sutlej river, near Kanian village, in Sidhwan Bet police station.

The [HRO chairman, D.S.Gill, in a statement here, on Jan.16, said that Bhai Gurdev Singh was picked up by a police party, led by Jagraon SHO Gunmit Singh, from Kaonke village in presence of about 200 persons at 10 a.m. on December 25 last Bhai Kaonke was brutally tortured by the then Jagraon SSP Swaran Singh “Ghotna” and other police officials while he was in custody and was liquidated on the evening of Jan.1.

An IHRO team, comprised of Gill, Bhupinder Singh Somal, Baljit Singh and Davinder Singh, visited Kaonke village and interviewed several persons, including Bhai Kaonke’s wife, Bibi Gurmail Kaur, daughters Paramjit Kaur and Sarbjit Kaur and son Han Singh.

According to IHRO report, certain eyewitnesses testified that they had seen Bhai Gurdev Singh in Jagraon sadar police station and CIA staff in a tortured condition from Dec.28 to Jan.1. During the detention, a local doctor and an aged lady who preferred anonymity had also seen Bhai Kaonke when he was almost dead on Jan.1 at 4 pm.

Some other witnesses, including Gurray village ex-sarpanch and panch, who were also in police custody at Jagraon, had seen two policemen bodily lifting Bhai Kaonka to the toilet and another doctor had given him an injection that day, said Gill.

Some residents of Jagraon told the IHRO team that they saw Bhai Kaonke being taken out of the police station at 4 pm_ On Jan.1.a few persons from Kanian village revealed that the police had disposed of Bhai Sahib’s body in the Suotlej never near Kanian Sahib Gurdwara on the night of Jan.1, added the THRO chairman.

The IHRO while refuting the “escape” story demanded a judicial inquiry by two sitting judge of the high court, for the senior police officials are involved in the murder.

Article extracted from this publication >>  January 22, 1993