Mohali, Nov. 12 -- A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mohali on Wednesday convicted former Tarn Taran senior superintendent police (SSP) Gurmeet Singh Randhawa under Sections 365 (abduction with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine a person) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code for his role in the 1992 forced disappearance of transporter Amrik Singh Shakri. While special CBI judge Yukti Goyal convicted Randhawa (who was a deputy superintendent police at the time of the incident) under section 365 (abduction with intent secretly and wrongful to confine a person) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, co-accused DSP (then constable) Parminderjit Singh was acquitted on the benefit of doubt. Three other police personnel named in the case passed away during the protracted 34-year legal battle. The court will pronounce the quantum of sentence on Thursday. Amrik's family, originally from Shakri village near Sarhali Kalan in Tarn Taran district and currently residing in Amritsar, hailed the conviction. "My uncle was the head of the family and ran the transport business. Our family suffered a lot after his disappearance," Shakri's nephew, Dilbag Singh, said. "We honour the verdict of the court, but the punishment should be strict. We should get justice.The accused conspired tomislead the court and vital evidence related to this case went missing." Shakri is survived by his wife, two sons, and a daughter. The case dates back to November 25, 1992, when Amrik Singh Shakri was abducted by a Tarn Taran police team from Hotel Amaltas in Ludhiana during his niece's wedding. He was never seen again. Despite repeated appeals by the family to senior police officials and then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, Shakri's whereabouts remained unknown. In 1996, Shakri's wife filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court. The Punjab government claimed in court that Shakri was already dead, producing 'bhog' advertisements as evidence. The family fiercely disputed the claim, leading the Supreme Court to order a CBI probe into the transporter's disappearance along with broader allegations of mass cremations of unidentified bodies by Punjab Police. The CBI registered a case in February 2000 and chargesheeted five police personnel in 2001: Then-DSP Gurmeet Singh Randhawa, inspector Suba Singh, sub-inspector Surinder Singh, ASI Jaswant Singh, and constable Parminderjit Singh. Former Tarn Taran SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu, named by the CBI as the primary conspirator, died during the investigation. Though charges were framed in 2000, higher courts stayed trial proceedings for over two decades. By the time the stay was lifted and the trial commenced in 2022, critical evidence-including witness statements, wedding photographs, video footage, and police logbooks-had vanished from court records, requiring reconstruction under orders from the Punjab and Haryana high court. Of the 47 witnesses cited by the CBI, only 16 were able to depose as many died during the decades-long delay. Accused officers Jaswant Singh, Surinder Singh, and Suba Singh also died before the trial concluded. Advocate Jagjit Singh Bajwa, who represented Shakri's family, said, "The abduction took place during the period of militancy in Punjab. Amrik Singh was a transporter and belonged to a financially well-off family. According to Bajwa, the family was asked to pay Rs.10 lakh for his release. However, his whereabouts remained unknown and the family was unable to establish what happened to him." Randhawa had also been an accused in the 1993 disappearance of religious leader Baba Charan Singh and five members of his family in Tarn Taran. In January 2020, a special CBI court convicted six former police personnel in that case but acquitted Randhawa, who was then a DSP, along with two other officers....