Panjgarain – A day after being released from police custody, Panjgarain brothers Rupinder Singh and Jaswinder Singh arrested in connection with alleged sacrilegious act and released later from jail due to lack of evidence against them, on Tuesday alleged that they were tortured mentally and physically by police.
Rupinder Singh alleged they were arrested on early hours on October 17. “The Mehna police in Moga and CIA staff in Faridkot kept us in illegal custody for three days and applied cruel methods of torture on us before showing our arrest on October 20,” he alleged.
According to Rupinder Singh, his brother Jaswinder and two other boys from their village of Panjgrain Khurd, Gurlal Singh and Amandeep Singh, were tortured by CIA staff and police personnel at the Mehna police station. The four men were allegedly picked up from the village on October 16 but Gurlal and Amandeep were released on October 22.
“I was already injured due to police action at Kotkapura Chowk and so I was spared but my brother Jaswinder, Gurlal and Amandeep were tortured. We all were forced to admit to the crime,” Rupinder said.
“After keeping us in illegal custody for four days, police showed our arrest on October 20 while Gurlal and Amandeep were kept in illegal custody till October 22 and then allowed to return home,” Rupinder said. He added that when they didn’t buckle under the torture and accept the crime, they were allegedly allured with the promise of government jobs if they provided clues in the case.
Queried on why Gurlal and Amandeep did not speak up earlier, the duo said: “Our friends were still behind bars and hence we were afraid. We were not even able to walk properly for many days”. Sikh organisations in Faridkot have now decided to take legal opinion in the matter.
The brothers reiterated that they were falsely implicated by police in sacrilege incident at Bargari village in Faridkot district last month.
Sikh preacher Bhai Panthpreet Singh said they will take their next course of action after taking the legal opinion.
SSP Faridkot, Sukhwinder Singh Mann denied having tortured the brothers and keeping them in illegal custody. “The interrogation was limited only to their questioning which was based on the telephone conversation Rupinder had with some persons abroad,” he said.