Avtar Singh was alleged to have been abducted, the Commission formed the view that the stand taken by the Government of Punjab that Shri Avtar Singh was neither arrested nor detained at the police station, could not be accepted on its face value. Further, the report of the SP Jallandhar that, despite the examination of a large number of witnesses, no clue was available, was also found unacceptable by the Comrnisslon. In these circumstances. the Commission took the view that a full and independent investigationwas called for in the matter relating to the abductionldisappearance of Shri Avtar Singh Mander. It also felt that the apprehension of Shri Sohan Singh, father of Shri Avtar Singh about the possibility of his son havlng been eliminated at the hands of the police could not be considered unjustified. The Commission took the view that since the CBI had already investigated and worked out the case relating to the abduction of Shri Jogwinder Singh, it would be appropriate that investigation into the alleged abductioddisappearanceof Shri Avtar Singh was also conducted by the CBI. Further, the Commission felt that as it had already prima-facie been brought on record that Shri Avtar Singh was removed from his house by the police party, detained and tortured by CIA, and last seen alive by Shri Kuldesp Singh Jhanwan while under the detention of CIA staff, and as Shri Avtar Singh's whereabouts were not known since then, the police owed a responsibility to explain its inability to account for the disappearance. If the police failed to do so, it might be presumed that Shri Avtar Singh died as a result of torture meted out to him. The Commission also found that the import of the High Court's order referred to by the Police was not correct. In this regard, the stand of the police was that the High Court had found no merit in the writ petition, which was dismissed. But the copy of the order forwarded by the police showed that the writ petition was held to have become 'Infructuous'. Thus the Commission, after careful consideration and taking a serious view in the matter, recommended that - The Government of Punjab would entrust the case to the CBI, for expeditious investigation. The CBI would endeavour to conclude the investigation within three months and would inform the outcome to the Commission. The Director General(1nvestigation)of the Commission would keep in touch with the progress of the investigation by the CBI; and (b) The Government of Punjab would pay a sum of Rs. 5 Lakhs to Shri Sohan Singh, fatbr of Shri Avtar Singh Mander, by way of immediate interim relief within a period of one month. 7. A college lecturer becomes a vlctim of pdlcs brutullty: Kerala (Cars iWlNM9) The Commission took suo-motu cognizance of an instance of police brutality, published in the Hindustan Times on 3 September 1998, under the heading 'Police brutality again in