5-member SIT formed in Nabha murders case
Listing major chinks in investigations carried out in Nabha family murder case, deputy inspector general of police LK Yadav has formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the case afresh and collect evidence against the prime suspect, Amritbir Singh, who was acquitted by a Patiala court on April 28.
Listing major chinks in investigations carried out in Nabha family murder case, deputy inspector general of police LK Yadav has formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the case afresh and collect evidence against the prime suspect, Amritbir Singh, who was acquitted by a Patiala court on April 28.
Patiala SP (detective) Pritpal Singh Thind will head the five-member SIT, whose other members are ASP Dhurman Harashdyal, DSP Harpreet Singh, DSP Rajwinder Singh and Inspector Parminder Singh.
After going through the case file closely, the DIG found several chinks in investigations. The then investigation officer inspector Harbhajan Singh had failed to put up the fingerprint and ballistic reports - two major evidences that could have nailed the accused.
"In this case, the investigation officer failed to put on record the ballistic report of the weapon from the forensic science laboratory as the police failed to supply the bullets to the laboratory. Also, no fingerprint report was put up to prove that the accused did fire at his family members. The process of recovery of the weapon and other things was full of flaws and the motive behind the murders was not elaborated," remarked the DIG.
"This proves that the investigation in this case has not been done in a professional manner. Circumstancial evidence was also not listed in the case file. Apart from that, the police solely depended upon the witnesses, who later turned hostile," said Yadav, while asking the SSP to further investigate the matter on scientfic basic so that an appeal could be filed in the higher court.
The DIG has also asked the SSP to personally identify who was responsible for the shoddy investigations, apart from issuing directions that the entire process of 'reinvestigation to collect evidence' should be done within 20 days.
It is pertient to mention that police went into a damage control mode after a Patiala court on April 28 acquitted Amritbir Singh (26), accused of killing his father, mother, grandfather and cousin on August 12, 2010.
The court concluded that the police had failed to prove their case.