Ranbir encounter: Warrants against 11 Uttarakhand cops

A Delhi court has issued non-bailable warrants against 11 Uttarakhand policemen accused in the 2009 fake encounter case in which an MBA student Ranbir Singh was murdered allegedly by the cops in Dehradun.

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

Special CBI Judge V K Maheshwari directed issuance of NBWs against 11 of the 18 accused Dehradun police personnel, seeking their presence in the court on June 5.

The NBWs have been issued against the then constables Satbir Singh, Sunil Saini, Chander Pal, Saurabh Nautiyal, Nagendra Nath, Vikas Chandra Baluni, Sanjay Rawat, Mohan Singh Rana, Inder Bhan Singh and Manoj Kumar and Head Operator at city control room Jaspal Singh Gosain.

The constables are among the 18 policemen chargesheeted by the CBI in connection with the Ranbir Singh encounter case that rocked the hill state in July 2009.

They were arrested in wake of evidence that 22-year-old Singh, an MBA student from Ghaziabad, was allegedly gunned down by the Uttarakhand police after being caught at Mohini Road, where he and his companions were allegedly trying to commit some crime on July 3, 2009.

Singh's father Ravindra Singh had alleged that his son had gone to Dehradun in search of a job where he was arrested by the police on July 3 on the pretext of being involved in some robbery. 

He had alleged that on the same day, 29 bullets were pumped into his body and the incident was camouflaged as an encounter.

Besides these 11 policemen, others who are accused in the case and presently lodged in Tihar Jail are the then inspector Santosh Jaiswal, Sub-inspectors Gopal Dutt Bhatt, Rajesh Bisht, Neeraj Kumar, Nitin Chauhan and Chandra Mohan and Constable Ajeet Singh.

All the 18 policemen have been charged for various offences such as murder, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence.
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Uttarakhand cops plead for protection from Tihar inmates

Till a while ago, they were supposed to protect citizens from criminals. Now, however, the tables have turned.

Seven Uttarakhand policemen, who are in Tihar Jail for their alleged involvement in the killing of an MBA student in a fake encounter in July 2009, have knocked the doors of a city court asking for orders to the prison authorities to ensure their well-being inside the jail premises and also while being produced in the court.

Moving a bunch of applications before Special CBI Judge V K Maheshwari, the policemen expressed threats to their life and safety from other inmates in Tihar, and while travelling in the same van with these “hardcore” criminals to a Tis Hazari court for hearings.

The applications were moved by accused Santosh Kumar Jaiswal, Gopal Dutt Bhatt, Rajesh Bisht, Neeraj Kumar, Nitin Chauhan, Chander Mohan Singh Rawat and Ajit Singh — all Uttarakhand Police personnel who were forced to surrender before the city court after their bail was cancelled by the Supreme Court in March.

“They are lodged in Tihar and are being transported to the court in a common vehicle along with other prisoners. They all have apprehensions that other prisoners are likely to cause harm to them by inflicting injuries and hence separate arrangement of their transportation from jail to court and vice versa may be made. Separate arrangement of their lodging in jail be also made,” the judge read out from their applications.

Taking their plea on record, Special Judge Maheshwari then forwarded the plea to the jail superintendent concerned and asked him to see if their requests could be allowed as per rules.

“Jail superintendents are directed to look into the matter and take all measures for their safety in jail and providing a separate van while commuting to and from the court as per the rules,” said the judge.

MBA student from Ghaziabad Ranveer Singh had gone to search for a job in Dehradun when he was allegedly picked up by Dehradun police officials on July 2, 2009. He was allegedly gunned down on July 3. Investigation of the case was handed over to the CBI on a request by the Uttarakhand government. The agency in its preliminary report had stated that the encounter was fake.

INDIANEXPRESS