Recruited as a constable in the Punjab Police in 1987, Gurmeet Singh Pinky rose steadily through the ranks in the next few years, his speciality being encounter killings.
It wasn’t an encounter killing, however, that saw him getting a life sentence for murder in 2001, but the random shooting down of one Avtar Singh Gola.
He was quietly released last year and reinstated in service this May, but the order was overturned.
Now contesting the reversal in court, Pinky has, in a taped confession, spilled the beans on his years with the Punjab Police.
In a tell-all confessional account, former Police Inspector reveals the sordid tale of kidnappings and fake encounters during anti-militancy operations.
Pinky claims that he paid Rs 50 Lakh for his reinstatement in Police. He pleads innocence in a murder case in which he served a life sentence in jail.
"If I admit to having witnessed 50 killings, why would I not admit to 51st," he asks?
Once blue-eyed boy of senior officers, also reveals how a Professor of PAU, Ludhiana, Rajinderpal Singh Bulara was kidnapped and killed in a fake encounter. He also reveals the "cat and mouse" game of police "CATS".
He also gave an eye-witness account of how a suspected militant was shot in a police station by a senior officer. Pinky also reveals alleged connivance between certain top-level officials and militants.
He also threw fresh light on the elimination of four members of the family of a militant by a Nihang Chief allegedly on the asking of a senior officer who faced a dastardly militant attack.
He also revealed the custodial death due to torture of a suspect in a Police station in Chandigarh. None of these actions were inquired into.
The "killer cop", Gurmeet Singh Pinky narrated how not only were some top militants caught and eliminated but even petty criminals were killed for money in "encounters".
Some senior officers also pocketed most of the award money meant for informers and field officers, Pinky claims.
Pinky claims that "secret funds" were being misused to defend cops facing criminal charges and pay off convicted cops and their families.
The concluding episode also carries a "Secret" communication from IB Special Director to Punjab DGP, which gives out the unwritten "policy" in operation in Punjab during militancy days.
