Chandigarh: When human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra was abducted outside his Amritsar home in Sept 1995, another prominent disappearance had already become one of Punjab’s most enduring mysteries. More than two-and-a-half years earlier, 43-year-old Bhai Gurdev Singh Kaunke, the then acting jathedar of the Akal Takht, had disappeared after coming into Punjab Police custody during the Beant Singh govt.While Kaunke’s family has maintained that he was illegally detained, tortured and killed in custody, the official version is that he escaped during a militant attack on a police party and was never traced. Three decades later, the presumed death of one of Sikhism’s highest temporal figures remains unresolved despite multiple inquiries, govt-appointed committees, an SIT probe and two pending proceedings before the Punjab and Haryana high court.According to Kaunke’s family, he was picked up from his native village, Kaunke Kalan, on Dec 25, 1992. They allege that he was kept in illegal custody, tortured and killed, and his whereabouts have remained unknown since Dec 28, 1992.The police, however, maintain Kaunke, who was in custody in another criminal case, escaped on Jan 2, 1993 after militants attacked a police party near Sidhwan Bet while he was being taken for recovery of weapons. According to affidavits filed before the high court, he either fled the country or was killed by militants who allegedly secured his release. He was subsequently declared a proclaimed offender.Within days of his disappearance, Kaunke’s wife, Bibi Gurmail Kaur, approached the high court. Police officers, including then SSP Swaran Singh, SHO Gurmit Singh and inspector Ajit Singh, denied the allegations in affidavits. Swaran Singh and Ajit Singh have since died.The case took a new turn when the Badal govt appointed the then ADGP, B P Tiwari, to inquire into the allegations. In his April 29, 1999 report, Tiwari concluded that Kaunke had been wrongfully confined by police and records fabricated. He recommended a criminal case against police officials and further investigation into the conduct of others.However, the then Punjab DGP, Sarabjit Singh rejected the findings, concluding there was no evidence of illegal confinement or fabrication of police records. He recommended no action against any police official.After former MP Simranjit Singh Mann approached the high court seeking disclosure of the Tiwari report, the Badal govt constituted another committee comprising ADGP (Crime) K K Attri and ADGP (Intelligence) M S Aulakh to examine both reports. The committee endorsed the DGP’s conclusions.During the pendency of Mann’s petition, the govt constituted yet another committee headed by then DGP-cum-commandant general of Punjab Home Guards Samar Vijay Singh and principal secretary Dr Brajendra Singh to examine the matter. Unlike the earlier committee, it recommended reinvestigation of the entire case, including FIR No. 1 dated Jan 2, 1993, by a team headed by an officer not below the rank of inspector general of police.Acting on that recommendation, the subsequent Congress govt led by Capt Amarinder Singh constituted an SIT comprising SSP Mukhvinder Singh Chhina, SP Gurpreet Singh Toor and SP Jaspal Singh Dhanoa. The SIT found no evidence that Kaunke had been tortured or killed in police custody and recommended the case be treated as “untraced”. On Jan 30, 2003, the high court disposed of Mann’s petition after taking the SIT report on record.The case resurfaced in Dec 2023 when the Punjab Human Rights Organisation released the unpublished Tiwari inquiry report and submitted it to the Akal Takht. The Akal Takht directed the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee to pursue legal remedies. The SGPC later filed a complaint on behalf of Kaunke’s family, though the PHRO alleged several officials had not been named.The family’s legal battle continues. Hari Singh Sekhon, Kaunke’s son, filed two petitions before the Punjab and Haryana high court in 2024 and 2025. One seeks prosecution of former police officials for allegedly filing false affidavits in the original proceedings, while the other seeks directions for registration of a criminal case over the alleged illegal detention, custodial torture and murder of his father.The petition seeking registration of a criminal case is listed for hearing on July 16, while the petition under Section 340 CrPC is scheduled for July 24.“What happened to my father should not happen to anyone. We have been waiting for justice for more than three decades. We only want the truth to come out. Our fight is not just for our family but to ensure no other family has to go through what we have endured,” Sekhon told TOI.
