BATHINDA, Aug. 7 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court has granted anticipatory bail to five Punjab police personnel accused of the custodial death of a Bathinda resident. Hearing a petition on Tuesday, justice Rajesh Bhardwaj directed the accused to appear before the trial court in Bathinda. A fact-finding report filed on February 18 this year by then judicial magistrate (first class) Kuldeep Singh indicted five cops - inspector Navpreet Singh, the then head of Bathinda CIA-1, head constable Rajwinder Singh and three constables, Gaganpreet Singh, Harjeet Singh and Jaswinder Singh - for allegedly torturing a man to death while in illegal custody and covering it up as drowning. Based on this report, the district court ordered them to stand trial for culpable homicide, causing the disappearance of evidence and other offences. On July 28, the HC had granted an interim pre-arrest bail to the accused cops, after which they appeared before the district court on July 31. The civil judge (junior division) of Bathinda district court, Rasveen Kaur, had asked the accused persons to furnish bail/surety bonds in the sum of Rs.1 lakh with one surety in the like amount each. Following it, the HC granted bail on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the district court issued a rectified order stating that only Rajwinder, Navpreet, Harjit and Jaswinder's surety bonds have been accepted. "The name of the accused, Gaganpreet Singh, was inadvertently mentioned. The mistake stands rectified," reads the updated order, where the district court issued a non-bailable warrant against Gaganpreet when it will hear the case of culpable homicide on August 11. The case involves the death of Bhinder Singh from Lakhi Jungle village in Bathinda, who was allegedly detained illegally and subjected to severe torture by the CIA-1 officials on October 17 last year. The judicial report dismissed the police claim that Bhinder drowned in a lake at the defunct Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Power Plant. Instead, digital and forensic evidence, along with a doctor's testimony, confirmed he was tortured to death. The report also recommended prosecuting the officers for culpable homicide, destruction of evidence, and other offences....