CALCUTTA, India—Sarwan Singh Cheema, a 45 year old from Sonarpur, says he was beaten severely by three officials of the CBI early this month. Sikh Community of Calcutta has taken notice of this incident and asked that those responsible for Mr. Cheema’s toture be given appropriate sentences.
According to Sarwan Singh, on May 9, he was picked up from the Jawahar Lal Nehru Road and taken to the CBI office at the Nizam Palace. He named Mohinder Singh and S.L. Sharma for torturing him severely. While in custody, he was interrogated about the whereabouts of his brother in law Arjan Singh who is wanted in a murder case of S.N. Dasgupta of Indian Revenue Service that took place in 1979 at Jaipur.
The CBI officials blamed Sarwan Singh for sheltering his brother in law and beat him up severely during the “interrogation process”. According to Sarwan Singh, after immense torture at the CBI office, he was taken to his house where the CBI officials conducted a thorough search and again beat him in front of his family. Arjan Singh’s wife Balbir Kaur Cheema and children witnessed the brutal beating.
After the incident, he was again picked up, this time by the Sonarpur police who forced him to sign a document that testified that Sarwan Singh knows the whereabouts of Arjan Singh and would turn him to the police within one month. Upon fail, Sarwan Singh would be fined Rs. 1.5 lakh by the CBI.
According to Sarwan Singh’s testimony, he got married in 1993 and knows nothing about the 1979 incident for which his brother in law is wanted by the CBI. The tactics used by CBI were declared illegal and in humane by various Sikh Organizations in Calcutta. A case has been filed against the CBI officials and Sonarpur police for illegally abducting and torturing Sarwan Singh Cheema at the Shakespeare Sarani police station.
