AMRITSAR, PUNJAB (KP) – The Amritsar District and Session Judge has acquitted Harchand Singh and Navtej Singh ‘Guggu’ of the criminal charges related the murder case of notorious Police cat turned Ajit Phoola Nihang.
Session Judge Gurbir Singh announced the acquittal within minutes after both Harchand Singh Marri-Kamboke, and Navtej Singh ‘Guggu’ of Batala made their appearance in the District courthouse.
Poohla, who was facing trial for rape, murder and other heinous crimes, was set ablaze allegedly by Navtej and Harchand in the high-security Amritsar Central Jail on August 28, 2008.
Reportedly, the duo obtained the fuel from a nearby generator that was connected to the prison Gurdwara. Around noon time on August 28th, the pair decided to approach Poohla Nihang in ward no. 9 and initiated a quarrel, resulting in the neo-Nihang being set on fire.
Poohla was immediately taken to the local Civil Hospital but then later transferred over to PGI Chandigarh, due to the seriousness of his burns. He was declared dead the next day.
The attacker were later identified as Navtej Singh of Batala and Harchand Singh of Marri-Kamboki, Amritsar. Six individuals were originally charged in the conspiracy, three of them had been exonerated earlier by the trial court.
Poohla: Ruthless Butcher in Garb of a Nihang
Ajit Poohla, who headed his own faction of Tarna Dal, and a high level undercover police officer, operated his cadre of black cats during the turbulent 1980s and 1990s, and was responsible for numerous heinous crimes against humanity including murder, rape, and torture under state patronage.
For the past two decades, Poohla was also involved in drug trafficking and illegal occupation of public and private lands. He had illegally seized several Gurdwaras in Punjab and used them as centers of criminal activity.
In 2005, he was ousted from the Gurdwaras and eventually jailed due to the efforts of Col. HS Sandhu, of the Majha Human Rights Front.
When the freedom movement was at its peak in the state, Poohla enjoyed a high security cover of 42 official gunmen armed with 77 sophisticated weapons. He was known to flaunt snapshots of him in the company of senior political party leaders, including a former chief minister, and senior IAS and IPS officers.