Mohali, Nov. 13 -- A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mohali on Thursday sentenced former senior superintendent of police (SSP) Gurmeet Singh Randhawa to five years of imprisonment in the 1992 abduction and disappearance of transporter Amrik Singh Shakri, who was picked up by Taran Tarn police team from a Ludhiana hotel while attending a wedding. The court also awarded a two-year jail term to Randhawa on criminal conspiracy charges and imposed fines totalling Rs.75,000 that would be paid to the victim's family as compensation. Special CBI judge Yukti Goyal, in her order, said both sentences will run concurrently. The imprisonment in default of payment of the fines, however, will run consecutively, she added. The verdict came nearly after a protracted 34-year legal battle. Co-accused DSP Parminderjit Singh, represented by advocate HS Dhanoa, was acquitted on Wednesday. While deciding the sentence, the court rejected the plea for leniency based on Randhawa's age and health. Randhawa told the court through video conferencing that he was 71, had retired as an SSP, suffered from age-related ailments and had faced the trial since 1996. He also cited his wife's health condition and said he was willing to compensate the victim's family. CBI prosecutor Jai Hind Patel and complainant's counsel Sarabjit Singh Verka opposed leniency, arguing that the offence was grave and that the family had endured trauma since 1992. They stressed that Randhawa had misused his position as a police officer. "The difference between a civilised and an uncivilised society depended on the extent to which those entrusted with the power to use force exercised it in violation of the law," the judge observed. She said that Randhawa held a crucial district-level police position when he abducted Shakri and said the court had to balance the gravity of the offence against his age and other mitigating circumstances. The case dates back to November 25, 1992, when Shakri was abducted by a Tarn Taran police team from Hotel Amaltas in Ludhiana during his niece's wedding. His whereabouts remained unknown despite repeated appeals by his family. In 1996, Shakri's wife filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court. The state government contended that Shakri was dead, a claim fiercely disputed by Shakri's family leading to a top court order a CBI probe into the case along with broader allegations of mass cremations of unidentified bodies by Punjab Police. In February 2000, CBI registered a case and charge-sheeted five police officers - then Tarn Taran DSP (detective) Gurmeet Singh Randhawa, then Khalra station house officer inspector Suba Singh, sub-inspector Surinder Singh, assistant sub-inspector Jaswant Singh, and constable Parminderjit Singh. The court found the prosecution witnesses' accounts against Randhawa consistent and reliable. His presence at the hotel and role in taking away the transporter stood established through the testimony of eyewitnesses, including Shakri's wife Amrik Kaur, son Davinder Singh and Jaspal Singh. The court rejected Randhawa's defence that he was elsewhere on the day of the incident. It noted that the logbook of the vehicle used by him was not available, despite efforts to trace it. Of the 47 witnesses cited by the CBI, only 16 deposed during the trial, as several died during the prolonged proceedings. Three of the accused-ASI Jaswant Singh, SI Surinder Singh, and inspector Suba Singh-also died, leading the court to abate proceedings against them. Advocate Sarabjit Singh Verka, who represented the complainant, described the case as not merely one of a person's disappearance, but also of the disappearance of evidence. He said that his client will approach the high court against lesser sentence to the convict....