Ex-DIG gets 8 years for Punjab suicide case 15 years ago

A Punjab court has convicted a former Punjab police deputy inspector general (DIG) for abetment to suicide, criminal intimidation and extortion for an incident that took place 15 years ago.

Former DIG Kultar Singh was sentenced to eight years imprisonment while sitting deputy superintendent of police Hardev Singh got a four year sentence.

The sentence was meted out by additional sessions judge Sandeep Singh Bajwa today (19 Feb).

Activists of Punjab Human Rights Organisations (PHRO), which played vital role in the case, welcomed the court’s ruling, reported Hindustan Times.

The report said the case dates back to Oct 31, 2004, when Hardeep Singh, a resident of Chowk Karori locality in the city, his wife Romi, mother Jaswant Kaur, and children Simran and Ismeet, committed suicide by consuming poison.

The family scribbled a suicide note on a wall in their house, and also mailed a similar note to their friends, accusing four of their relatives and Kultar Singh, the then Amritsar senior superintendent of police (SSP), of forcing them to take the extreme step.

Hardeep Singh was being blackmailed after he allegedly committed a crime. Fed up with repeated demands for money, he and his immediate family committed suicide in 2004. Though the local police registered a case, no one was taken into custody, the report said.