The Meerut police have said Aleem, one of the five persons who died during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act violence on December 20, 2019, was killed by a bullet fired by rioters. Investigating officer Ramsanjeevan of the Nauchandi police station said the investigation was still on but the CCTV footage, post-mortem and circumstantial evidence indicate that Aleem was killed by Anees, Mohsin, and Mehtab.
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“Anees and Mohsin are already in jail while Mehtab is on the run. We have added Sections 301 (unintended murder), 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 120B of IPC to the FIR,” he said. The Inspector said a potassium nitrate test conducted on Aleem’s body for gunshot residue revealed that he handled a firearm before death. “This indicates that he could have been killed in the crossfire.”
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For a long time, police had been maintaining that Aleem was killed by unidentified men and he was brought dead to the district hospital. Mr. Ramsanjeevan said the confusion was created because the FIR of Aleem’s death was earlier lodged at the Lisadi gate police station, while he died under the Nauchandi police station area.
However, Ali Zaidi, Supreme Court lawyer who is arguing for the five victims, described it as a “bogus story” being made to save the culprit and senior police officials involved in “destruction of evidence”. “We have lodged a complaint against police officials with video evidence with the district Magistrate and Senior SP but an FIR has not been registered,” he said.
Aleem’s brother Salahuddin, alleging the role of policemen in the death, had on February 14 written to district officials that he had video evidence that Aleem was shifted to the government hospital by the Meerut police in their vehicle. Mr. Ramsanjeevan said he didn’t receive any such video evidence.
Salahuddin and Idul Hasan, father of another victim Asif, have approached the National Human Rights Commission for registration of an FIR against police officials. “Let them come up with these stories, the truth will be revealed in the courtroom,” said Mr. Zaidi.
Additional district Magistrate Subhash Chandra Prajapati, who is conducting the magisterial inquiry, said he was still waiting for any concrete evidence to reach him.
