Patiala, October 17, 2023: Jagir Singh (71), a local resident of Patiala, has been found alive 31 years after being declared dead in a fake police encounter. Singh’s accomplice, Daljit Singh, was also declared dead in the encounter.
The CBI is currently prosecuting four Punjab Police cops, two of whom are already dead, for allegedly killing Jagir Singh and Daljit Singh on December 29, 1992. Kashmir Singh, the father of Daljit Singh, had sought action against the police officials, pleading that the bodies of his son and his accomplice were never shown to the family members.
The CBI found that Jagir Singh was not only alive, but had even spent 15 years as a convict in a drug smuggling case in the Amritsar jail. The case under the NDPS Act was registered at the same Ajnala police station where the FIR of the police encounter with his name and details was registered.
Singh also runs a real estate business in Patiala while remaining dead in official records. He is said to have amassed a huge property and one of his sons is settled in Australia. He is said to have remained active in Majitha region of Amritsar.
The case came to light when the CBI found Singh in Patiala. Ashok Bagoria, the special public prosecutor for the CBI appearing in the case, had submitted before the CBI court recently that Singh was alive. Subsequently, Singh appeared before the CBI judge via video-conferencing on September 29. The official documents of the court proceedings confirmed that Singh deposed before the judge while being admitted to a private hospital in Patiala.
However, Singh has since gone incommunicado and all efforts to meet him have failed. His son Ranjit Singh confirmed that his father was alive but claimed that he was a victim of a conspiracy. Ranjit also claimed that his father was not convicted of drug smuggling.
The CBI is now investigating how Jagir Singh was able to live a normal life for 31 years despite being declared dead in official records. The agency is also probing the role of the police officials in the alleged fake encounter.
