Eight convicted for killing three students in Bihar

A Bihar court Thursday convicted eight people including two police officials of murdering three teenage students in a fake encounter 12 years ago in Patna, a lawyer said.

The fast track court headed by Judge Ravi Shankar Sinha pronounced the order and found them guilty.

"Two police officials including then station house officer (SHO) of Shastri Nagar police station Shamse Alam and constable Arun Kumar Singh were found guilty of murdering the three students," the lawyer said.

Other than the police officials, six others were also found guilty of attempt to murder in the case.

The court will pronounce the quantum of sentence June 12, 2014.

According to the chargesheet, the three students - Vikash Ranjan, Prashant Singh and Himanshu Shekhar - were killed in a fake encounter at a market near Ashiyana Nagar locality Dec 28, 2002 in Patna.

The six found guilty of attempt to murder were shopkeepers of Sammelan market, who had brutally beaten up the three students following a scuffle between them and a telephone booth operator over paying a STD bill.

The shopkeepers then called police and handed over the three students to them saying they were thieves and involved in crimes. The two policemen later shot the students and dubbed them as robbers in police records.

After a hue and cry by the opposition parties, the case was first handed over to the local police for investigation, then to the CID and subsequently to the Central Bureau of Investigation.