Term ended 2 yrs back, convict to be free at last

Following a report in The Indian Express on February 9, Sukhbir Singh, a resident of Mangowal village in Nawanshahr, took up his case and went all out to arrange guarantors.

“I went to Bihar no less than five times in the past two months in search of guarantors, and finally got two from his village. I got the formalities completed with the district administration there,” said Singh, a producer of TV programmes.

“From Dev’s background I came to know that he was not a habitual criminal but had become a victim of circumstances. Had I not taken up his case, Dev might have been in jail for good,” he added.

Central Jail Superintendent Nirmal Singh Sidhu said Saran would be freed as soon as they received the documents from the Purnea District Magistrate.

Saran was arrested on murder charges in 1992 and was sentenced to life in 1995. While accompanying his relatives from Punjab to Bihar, he had an altercation with a person who he killed. He was then arrested. All his immediate relatives — father, mother and wife — have since died. He has no information about his only son, who was a year old when he was imprisoned.