Dehradun Fake encounter: CBI demands death for guilty policemen

The CBI Saturday asked a court here to award the death penalty to seven Uttarakhand policemen convicted of killing a 22-year-old MBA student in a fake gun battle in Dehradun. The court fixed June 9 for pronouncing the sentence.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) counsel and Senior Public Prosecutor Brajesh Kumar Shukla asked Special Judge J.P.S. Malik to award death penalty to seven policemen saying they behaved in a "predatory manner", which falls under the act of "rarest of rare".

On Friday, the court convicted 18 policemen, who were involved in the Ranbir Singh "encounter" case that rocked the hill state in 2009.

The convicted policemen are then inspector Santosh Jaiswal, sub-inspectors Gopal Dutt Bhatt, Rajesh Bisht, Neeraj Kumar, Nitin Chauhan and Chandra Mohan, constables Ajeet Singh, Satbir Singh, Sunil Saini, Chander Pal, Saurabh Nautiyal, Nagendra Nath, Vikas Chandra Baluni, Sanjay Rawat, Mohan Singh Rana, Inder Bhan Singh and Manoj Kumar besides Jaspal Singh Gossain.

Of 18 policemen, seven accused, including Jaiswal, Bhatt, Bisht, Neeraj Kumar, Chauhan, Chandra Mohan and Ajeet Singh were convicted on charges of murder, while the other ten policemen were convicted for conspiring to murder and one policeman was convicted for framing incorrect record.

Jaspal Singh Gossain, the head operator at city control room, was convicted under section 218 IPC (public servant framing incorrect record).

"They (police) were the protectors of law but they behaved in a predatory manner. They should have given protection to the victim, but they killed him in a fake encounter," the prosecutor said.

He added harsh punishment to the guilty policemen will send a strong message in the society and "no public person in future can even think of doing such crimes".

Shukla said: "The circumstances under which the victim was killed deserves nothing less than the death penalty."

The policemen were arrested after the evidence surfaced that Ranbir Singh, a resident of Ghaziabad, was allegedly gunned down in cold blood by police after being caught at Mohini road where he and his companions were allegedly trying to commit crime July 3, 2009.

The case was transferred from Dehradun to Delhi by the Supreme Court on the plea of Ranbir's father Ravindra Singh.