Gadoli encounter: Prima facie no conspiracy by Gurgaon cops,

The Bombay High Court has observed that prima facie it did not appear the Gurgaon Police had hatched a conspiracy to kill gangster Sandeep Gadoli.
The observation was made by Justice A M Badar in an order passed on November 14, while granting bail to two of the four accused personnel of the Gurgaon Police.
Gadoli was killed in an encounter by the Gurgaon Police in Mumbai's Airport Metro hotel on February 7 last year. However, the encounter was subsequently termed 'fake' by the Mumbai Police.
In September last year, the Mumbai Police had filed a chargesheet against four officials of the Gurgaon Police.

Justice Badar observed that the chargesheet and the statements of various prosecution witnesses in the case revealed that the accused officers had come to Mumbai to arrest Gadoli following due permission from their seniors.
The judge also observed that the accused police officials had made every effort to inform the Mumbai Police of their activities and to seek their help even till just a few minutes before the incident. The Mumbai Police, however, had failed to provide the requisite assistance to them, he held.

"What happened when the accused police personnel reached Mumbai for apprehending Sandeep Gadoli is also reflected from the statements of several personnel of the Mumbai Police. This and other evidence on record does not prima facie show that the operation was conducted stealthily by accused personnel of the Gurgaon Police," Justice Badar said.

"As pointed out, at 12 pm on 07/02/2016, Sandeep Gadoli and his associates were to leave Hotel Airport Metro, Mumbai for proceeding to Goa. It is seen from the statements of the Mumbai police officials that they received several calls from the accused police personnel. At 11.15 am on the same day, the accused persons also made two calls to the Sahar Police Station Mumbai, but received no assistance.
"A call was again made to the Mumbai Police just before the incident, but they did not receive assistance...This is the evidence collected by the prosecution, which prima facie indicates that there were several attempts to seek help from the Mumbai Police, though time was running out," he said.

Two of the four accused personnel--constable Jitendra Yadav and head constable Deepakkumar Kakran--had filed bail pleas.
While Yadav was accused of keeping the gun used by the prime accused in the alleged encounter, Kakran was accused by of destroying evidence and breaking the CCTVs installed in the premises of the hotel where the incident took place.
In their pleas, Yadav and Kakran had argued that they were not present inside the hotel room where Gadoli was shot to death.
Justice Badar granted bail to them noting that they had only acted in the manner in order to trace a "wanted criminal" and that there was no scope for them to tamper with the evidence.

In the order, the judge also observed that at the time of the trial the court must keep in mind that while the prosecution had alleged a criminal conspiracy on part of the accused, the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) permitted a police officer to affect an immediate search in such cases where he believed that following due procedure might result in concealment or destruction of evidence.
"The chargesheet reveals that Gadoli had a chequered history. He had 41 criminal cases registered against him. He was on a pleasure trip to Mumbai and was accompanied by his girlfriend and two other Russian girls," Justice Badar said.

The Gurgaon Police officers accused in the case also had written permission to come to Mumbai to apprehend Gadoli, he said.