ANTF Arrests Former Cop Over False Cases; Villages Request Hawara Parole

The Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF)—earlier known as Special Task Force—has arrested former Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Rachhpal Singh for falsely framing four people in a drug case. The case dates back to 2017 when Rachhpal as AIG had claimed to have seized 1 kg heroin in Amritsar. Investigation officer Jagjit Singh said the matter had been under investigation as one of the villagers Balwinder Singh from Patti district had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court. In 2022, the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) had filed a chargesheet against 10 cops, including Rachhpal saying the accused had fabricated evidence to frame a resident of a border village. Among those chargesheeted were an inspector, two sub-inspectors, four assistant sub-inspectors, and two head constables. In another 2019 case, Rachhpal had arrested Amarinderpal Singh of Marhi Tanda village in Gurdaspur district and claimed to have recovered 200 g of heroin. Meanwhile, 66 panchayats (village councils) in Panjab recently passed resolutions requesting parole for Sikh militant Jagtar Singh Hawara, who has been convicted of the 1995 assassination of former Indian National Congress Panjab chief minister Beant Singh. The panchayats have appealed to Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta that Hawara be given parole on humanitarian grounds to meet his ailing octogenarian mother. Hawara is currently serving a life sentence in Delhi’s Mandoli Central Jail. In October, Hawara’s mother Narinder Kaur had written to CM Gupta, requesting that parole be granted to her son. A separate plea was also submitted to National Commission for Minorities Chairperson Iqbal Singh Lalpura. Sri Akal Takht Sahib (Eternal Throne) officiating Jathedar (leader) Giani Kuldip Singh Gargajj also publicly backed Kaur’s appeal. Concurrently, after the Supreme Court of India asked the Indian union government to decide on another Beant Singh assassin Balwant Singh Rajoana’s mercy petition pending for over 14 years, Rajoana said, ‘Even the Supreme Court has been asking the government for over five years to decide the matter. I want no further delay for the matter to be decided’ (earlier coverage).