Under Sl. No. 136/495, the list identifies the 19 August 1991 cremation of Bikram Singh, alias Chatar Singh, s/o Sewa Singh Jat, r/o Deo carried out by Johar Singh of Tarn Taran’s Sadar police station under FIR No. 107/91. The postmortem report is numbered SK 1/91. The cause of death is mentioned as “firearm injuries”.

The Committee has the following information through its Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/01477. The main informant is the victim’s brother Davinder Singh.

Bikkar Singh alias Bikram was 18 years old and, after completing his matriculation, became an automobile mechanic. He set up his own workshop near the bus stand of village Baath. In 1990, the Khanna police arrested him on the charge of aiding militants and sent him to the high security prison in Nabha. Some time later, Bikkar Singh was released on bail and he attended the court hearings on two dates.

Early August 1991, SHO Major Singh of Tarn Taran police station raided Sewa Singh’s house with the intention of arresting Bikkar Singh. Because Bikkar Singh was not home, the police took his elder brother Davinder Singh into custody. The police released Davinder Singh after four days on the understanding that his father would produce Bikkar Singh at the police station.

It appears that Bikkar Singh was arrested from Tarn Taran city soon after this. But SHO Major Singh denied this and the circumstances of his arrest and interrogation could not be ascertained.

On 19 August 1991, Punjabi newspapers reported the killing of Bikram Singh, Tarsem Singh Ladi and Baldev Singh in an encounter that had allegedly taken place at village Deoo itself. The police had the dead bodies identified by their relatives. Sewa Singh identified Bikkar Singh. The police, however, did not return the dead bodies to their relatives and performed the cremations themselves.

It is not clear why the names of other two killed in the same incident are recorded in the CBI’s list of partially identified bodies. They are [1] Tarsem Singh, alias Ladhi under Sl. No. 43/496. He was a resident of village Thatha under Sarhali police station. But the list says he was a resident of Khalra. His father’s name is Nirmal Singh, which is not given in the list. [2] The other person’s name is Baldev Singh from village Meharbanpura under Jandiala Guru police station. His name is given under Sl. No. 44/497. They were both cremated by Johar Singh under the same FIR No. 107/91. Their postmortem reports are marked as SK-2/91 and SK-3/91. The cause of death is “firearm injuries”.')"

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