A CBI court has sentenced retired Punjab Police Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Kashmir Singh to five-year imprisonment in a 1991 case involving the kidnapping, illegal confinement and disappearance of Baljit Singh of Malluwal Santa village in Tarn Taran district.
In 2023, the court had sentenced former Inspector Suba Singh (81), then Constable Ravel Singh and Head Constable Dalbir Singh to five-year rigorous imprisonment after convicting them under sections 120-B, 365, 344 and 330 of the IPC.
Kashmir Singh, who was serving as a head constable at Jhabal police station in Tarn Taran at the time of the incident, was not chargesheeted by the CBI. However, the trial court summoned him as an additional accused on an application filed by the complainant, Balbir Kaur, the wife of the missing man, Baljit Singh.
After appearing before the court, Kashmir Singh absconded and was declared a proclaimed offender in 2012. He was arrested recently and had been released on bail. Following the pronouncement of the sentence on Friday, he was taken into custody.
Balbir Kaur, who had pursued the case for decades, died in 2022 while awaiting justice. Meanwhile, Suba Singh, who was also an accused in seven other cases involving the alleged kidnapping and disappearance of victims, was murdered inside Patiala Central Jail on September 10, 2025.
According to the CBI, on August 7, 1991, at around 10 am, Baljit Singh, then 30, was picked up from the Jhabal bus stand in Tarn Taran by the then Jhabal SHO, Suba Singh, and other police personnel. He was taken to the police station, where he was allegedly kept in illegal custody until August 16.
During his detention, family members and others regularly met him at the police station and provided him with food and clothing. However, after August 16, his whereabouts became unknown, and he has not been traced since.
