BATHINDA, Feb. 28 -- A district court issued bailable arrest warrants against five Bathinda policemen, including inspector Navpreet Singh, on Thursday after they failed to appear before the judicial magistrate in a case where they were indicted for the murder of a villager kept in illegal police custody.

The court of judicial magistrate, first class (JMIC) Kuldeep Singh fixed the next hearing on March 10 as the lawyers in Bathinda district court were on strike and directed to serve the warrants to the cops through the office of Bathinda senior superintendent of police (SSP).

A fact-finding report by Bathinda JMIC Kuldeep Singh, filed on February 18, concluded that inspector Navpreet Singh, the then head of the crime investigating agency...