‘My son was tortured’: Jaipal Bhullar’s father refuses cremation, demands probe in his killing

On Sunday, while submitting a written plea to deputy commissioner Ferozepur demanding that Jaipal's autopsy be conducted again, Bhupinder,father of slain gangster Jaipal Singh Bhullar, and a retired inspector of the Punjab Police said that his son could 'do a crime, but not drugs'.

Bhupinder Singh, the father of slain gangster Jaipal Singh Bhullar, on Sunday, alleged that his son was tortured and murdered by the Punjab Police and refused to cremate the body until a second autopsy was conducted.

Jaipal, along with an aide Jaspreet Singh alias Jassi, were gunned down in a shootout with the West Bengal Special Task Force (STF) in New Town, near Kolkata, on Wednesday afternoon (June 9). An STF official was injured in the encounter. Jaipal Singh Bhullar and Jaspreet Singh — both wanted in several cases of murder and extortion, as well as drug smuggling — had rented a flat in Sukhabristi Apartment in New Town, officials said.

On Sunday, while submitting a written plea to deputy commissioner Ferozepur demanding that Jaipal’s autopsy be conducted again, Bhupinder — a retired inspector of the Punjab Police — said that his son could ‘do a crime, but not drugs’.

Bhupinder claimed that his son has been brutally ‘tortured, thrashed and then murdered’ by the Punjab Police, and demanded that a probe be conducted into the ‘encounter’ and an FIR be lodged against the personnel involved in it.

Bhupinder, a resident of Dashmesh Nagar in Ferozepur city, while speaking to The Indian Express, said, “It was not an encounter… it was a ruthless murder. Saada jawaan putt marr ditta (Our young son has been murdered). There are multiple injuries on his body, multiple fractures… his arm and other body parts are broken. He was badly tortured, thrashed, and then shot dead by the cops.”

“The body is now lying here with us in Ferozepur and we are not going to cremate it, till our plea for conducting a second autopsy is accepted. Even after killing our son, the police are not leaving us alone to mourn. A police team has been deployed in our house and they are trying to hush up the cremation. But we are not going to bow down to their pressure. My son’s arm and other body parts have grievous injury marks… there are clear signs of torture. Some cops in West Bengal have told us that they did not shoot my son, but personnel from Punjab Police pulled the trigger,” said Bhupinder.

The father said that those who knew Jaipal closely, also know about his hatred for drugs. “My son can do anything. any crime. But he will never do drugs. He never sold or consumed drugs. Punjab Police is now saying that he was a wanted drug smuggler… Those who knew Jaipal know how much he was against drugs.”

A statement released by Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta earlier in the week had said that both Jaipal Bhullar and Jaspreet Singh were ‘gangsters-turned-drug smugglers’ and were ‘neutralized by STF West Bengal Police after they fired on STF police party, when they raided the apartment’ on June 9. The DGP’s statement added that ‘neutralization of Jaipal and his associate..is a big blow to the heroin smuggling network, operating from across the border.’

Jaipal was a national-level hammer thrower, who later turned towards the world of crime. He along with Jaspreet and two others — Baljinder Singh and Darshan Singh (both arrested from Gwalior of Madhya Pradesh) — were accused of allegedly shooting dead two assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs) — Dalwinderjit Singh and Bhagwan Singh — of Ludhiana rural police on May 15 at the Jagraon grain market. A reward of Rs 10 lakh was announced by Punjab Police for information leading to the arrest of Jaipal after the Jagraon incident.

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