Three acquitted of giving false info

Mohali, February 19

In the ETO Ranjit Singh suicide case, a local court today found Rajinder Gopi, Paramjit Singh and Rajiv Sood, who were accused of giving wrong information (Section 182 of the IPC), not guilty.

The court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate acquitted the accused for lack of evidences. One of the accused, Rajiv Sood, died during the trial.

Defence counsel HS Pannu said Manjit Kaur, the wife of the ETO, had lodged a complaint against the trio, alleging that they had given wrong information to the vigilance. On the basis of the complaint, the investigating agency registered a case under Section 182 of the IPC against them.

It was alleged that Gopi, Paramjit Singh and Sood had made a complaint in the office of the then SP Vigilance, Amandeep Kaur, that RTO Ranjit Singh had demanded a bribe of Rs 2.52 lakh to release a truck, which they had allegedly intercepted at sales tax barrier.

On their statements, Amandeep Kaur had registered a case against the ETO on March 29, 2011, and arrested him, along with a constable. Later, the ETO had allegedly committed suicide.

A two-member SIT was constituted later to investigate the case against the ETO, which had recommended to quash the case and booking the trio (Gopi, Sood and Paramjit Singh) under Sections 182 and 120 B of the IPC for providing wrong information to the police. — TNS