Exclusive Interview: 36 years on, Shaheed Bhagat Singh's relative revisits custodial killing and ongoing fight for justice; Watch Video
'My Brother Was Tortured and Killed in Police Custody'
Babushahi Bureau
Chandigarh, July 13, 2026: In an emotional and revealing interview with veteran journalist Baljit Balli, Editor-in-Chief of Babushahi Network, Harbhajan Singh Dhatt has revisited the alleged custodial killing of his younger brother, Sarpanch Kuljit Singh Dhatt, describing it as one of Punjab’s most painful unresolved human rights cases.
Speaking during a special joint broadcast by Babushahi Network and Saanjha TV, Harbhajan Singh Dhatt said that his brother was illegally detained, tortured and killed in police custody in 1989 before police fabricated an escape story to cover up his death.
The interview comes amid renewed public discussion on Punjab’s militancy-era human rights cases following the international release of the biographical film Satluj on human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra.
Adding historical significance to the case, Harbhajan Singh Dhatt is married to the niece of Shaheed Bhagat Singh—the daughter of the revolutionary’s sister, Bibi Parkash Kaur. He said that despite the family’s deep association with India’s freedom struggle, they too became victims of alleged state excesses during that turbulent period.
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Rejecting allegations made against his brother at the time, Harbhajan Singh described Kuljit Singh Dhatt as a respected public representative dedicated to rural development.
According to him, Kuljit Singh Dhatt was serving his third consecutive term as Sarpanch of Ambala Jattan village in Hoshiarpur district. He was also a Director of the Bhogpur Sugar Mill, an Akali Dal leader, and a member of the governing bodies of Khalsa College and Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Gardiwala.
Harbhajan Singh alleged that on the morning of July 23, 1989, his brother had travelled to Garhi village near Bhogpur to help farmers secure pending sugarcane payments when he was picked up by a police team allegedly led by then DSP Ajit Singh Sandhu, along with other police officials.
He claimed the police deliberately avoided arresting him from his home village to prevent public resistance and instead detained him at another location along with three other village sarpanches.
While the other three were later released, Kuljit Singh Dhatt never returned home, he alleged.
Family Rejects Official ‘Escape’ Theory
As public protests over the disappearance intensified, police claimed that Kuljit Singh Dhatt had escaped from custody while leading officers to recover hidden weapons near the Beas River.
Harbhajan Singh rejected the official version as fabricated.
“It was impossible,” he said during the interview, maintaining that his brother died due to custodial torture and that the escape story was created to conceal his death.
Judicial Inquiry Named Five Police Officers
Following sustained protests by the Dhatt family and intervention by Bibi Parkash Kaur, the Supreme Court ordered a judicial inquiry headed by Justice H.L. Randev in March 1990.
In October 1993, Justice Randev submitted his report, concluding that Kuljit Singh Dhatt had been unlawfully killed in police custody. The report named five police officials in connection with the case—Ajit Singh Sandhu, Jaspal Singh, Sardool Singh, SPS Basra, and Sita Ram.
Ajit Singh Sandhu died by suicide in 1997 while facing multiple human rights cases. Sardool Singh died in 2008, while SPS Basra retired from service in 2013.
2014 Convictions and Ongoing High Court Battle
In 2014, a Hoshiarpur Sessions Court convicted retired DIG SPS Basra, Jaspal Singh and Sita Ram under Sections 364 (kidnapping), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 218 (public servant framing incorrect record) of the Indian Penal Code. The court awarded concurrent prison terms of five years, three years and two years, respectively, and imposed fines of Rs 2.1 lakh on each convict.
By the time the judgment was delivered, two of the accused—Ajit Singh Sandhu and Sardool Singh—had already died.
Harbhajan Singh said the family challenged the verdict before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, arguing that the convicted officials should also face trial for murder under Section 302 of the IPC, rather than only the offences for which they were convicted.
The convicted officers also appealed against the Sessions Court judgment. The High Court subsequently stayed the trial court’s verdict, and both appeals have remained pending for nearly 12 years.
Concluding the interview, Harbhajan Singh Dhatt said the family has spent more than three decades pursuing justice and remains committed to continuing the legal battle until, in their view, full accountability is ensured.
The interview offers a rare first-person account of a case that continues to figure prominently in discussions on custodial violence, enforced disappearances and accountability during Punjab’s militancy era.