When an ASI and a Home Guard jawan were found murdered at a police post at Adhian village, 500 m from the International Border on February 21, it sparked national outrage. The Punjab Chief Minister, cabinet ministers, senior BSF and police officers and politicians were quick in their condemnation. Three days later, it turned out that some local youths had carried out the killings at the behest of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Then, a more troubling chapter unfolded, setting Punjab abuzz ever since then.
The police picked up Ranjit Singh (19), a Gurdaspur college student, based on CCTV footage. He was handcuffed and was being taken to a place, around 12 km away from Gurdaspur, in a jeep for weapon recovery. The cops claim the vehicle overturned around 3 am on a foggy night. In the chaos, the police claim, he escaped.
Three hours later, at Puranashala (24 km away) he was shot dead in “retaliatory fire”. Officers said he rode a motorcycle, ignored a challenge to stop, fired at the police, and was killed in the shootout. They told his family it was an “encounter”.
Eyewitnesses contradict the police on several points. Absence of fog that night undermines the “jeep overturn” claim, they say. How did a handcuffed youth cover 24 km in three hours? From where did he get a motorcycle and pistol? If handcuffed, how did he ride? If not, how did he free himself? No officer has an answer. The police now say a “magisterial inquiry” will clear the facts.
This is the latest in Punjab’s sharp rise in police encounters: At least 35 from January to March 3 this year—nearly one every alternate day. Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav is on record stating that 324 armed clashes took place between the police and criminal gangs from April 2022 to October 2025.
The police alleged Ranjit was “indoctrinated” by the ISI. The family dismissed the cops’ claims as mere rhetoric. DIG Sandeep Goel termed the encounter as poetic justice!
The courts disagree with that framing. A court has asked for the CCTV footage of the encounter site to be preserved. It has also asked mobile phone companies to retain call records of officers, including the Gurdaspur SSP, from February 20 to 28. Most significantly, it has questioned the injuries sustained by CIA in-charge Gurmeet Singh, who led the encounter, and asked a medical board to determine whether these were self-inflicted or genuine.
Families across cases allege unofficial custody before “escapes”. A petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court by Nikhil Saraf, filed days later, demands records of all “escape” killings/injuries in two years. “Identical storylines, no officer punished for escapes—proving pre-planning”, it argues, urging Supreme Court-mandated independent probes.