Over 20 years after the Uttar Pradesh Police claimed to have gunned down four criminals in an encounter in Bhojpur, Ghaziabad disrict, a CBI court here on Monday held four policemen guilty of murder, destruction of evidence and giving false evidence.
CBI Special Judge (Anti-Corruption) Rajesh Chaudhary held the then Station House Officer Lal Singh, Sub-Inspector Joginder Singh and constables Surya Bhan and Subhash Chand guilty in the case. The fifth accused, Ranbir Singh, died during the trial. The court will announce the quantum of punishment on February 22.
Rajan Dahiya, CBI public prosecutor, told The Hindu that forensic evidence played a crucial role in nailing the accused.
The victims included Jalaluddin (17), Pravesh (17), Ashok (17) and Jasbir (23). Mr. Dahiya said all four hailed from poor families, and had gone to Pilkhuwa in search of jobs on November 8, 1996. They were sitting at a tea stall outside the Bhojpur police station when they were called inside the station and tortured by the policemen there before being killed in a fake encounter in nearby Machli Bazar area.
Weapons planted
Mr. Dahiya said, “The UP Police had claimed to have recovered country-made weapons from the possession of the victims. But the bullets allegedly fired by the accused did not match that of the weapons recovered from them.”
A former 1996-batch UP cadre IPS officer was also allegedly involved in the incident. Identified as Jyoti Belur, she was reportedly was on her first posting as circle officer in Modi Nagar when the incident happened.
“One bullet recovered from the body of Jasbir Singh was found to have been fired from the official revolver of Jyoti Belur. It was said that the weapon was used by her subordinate,” Mr. Dahiya said.
“When a CBI court summoned Ms. Belur as an accused in the case, she failed to make an appearance. In 2007, she resigned from her duties and went to live in the United Kingdom. Proceedings against her will commence once she appears in the court,” Mr. Dahiya added.
Fake affidavits filed
Mr. Dahiya said to establish their theory, the policemen had filed fake affidavits of eyewitnesses. Later, it emerged that the policemen had taken the signatures of the eyewitnesses on empty papers and further used them as affidavits.
“It took us over 20 years to get justice. We demand stringent punishment for the culprits,” said Ashok’s cousin, Sandeep Kumar.
Pravesh’s father, Mahender Singh, said, “The incident left us traumatised. We did not get the last glimpse of our child or perform his last rites.”
