17 UP cops get life term for killing man in fake encounter
A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ghaziabad on Thursday held 17 UP police personnel guilty of killing a 24-year-old man in a fake encounter in 1992 and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ghaziabad on Thursday held 17 UP police personnel guilty of killing a 24-year-old man in a fake encounter in 1992 and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
The police had picked up the victim, Jaswinder Singh alias Jassa, from Delhi, killed him in a fake encounter at the Kashiwala jungles in Bijnor district in Western UP on October 31, 1992, and later branded him as a terrorist.
“It is condemnable to kill a person and later brand him as a terrorist. It was not a mistake by police, but a planned conspiracy and a criminal offence by them,” the court of CBI special judge AK Singh said in its order.
The convicted include an inspector and two sub-inspectors. The victim originally belonged to Majitha area of Amritsar in Punjab.The CBI found in its probe that Singh was employed as a ‘sewadar’ since 1990 in Delhi. The accused policemen picked him up from near Gurudwara Rakabganj in Delhi a day before the killing.
“The Supreme Court had directed the CBI to find out if this was a genuine or a fake encounter. Our investigations revealed it was a fake encounter and the victim was picked up before he was killed and brandished as a terrorist. They showed recovery of AK-56 and a double-barrel gun from his possession,” said CBI senior public prosecutor S Islam.
Soon after Singh was picked up, a police complaint was lodged at the Parliament Street police station in Delhi on October 30, 1992.
The CBI chargesheet said 18 policemen fired 161 rounds. The agency produced around 46 witnesses during the hearings.
Several policemen started from Bijnor in two vehicles on October 29, 1992, and reached Delhi the next day, where they picked up the victim and returned, the CBI said.
The next day, the police claimed an alleged terrorist was gunned down at the Kashiwala forests in Bijnor.
After the incident, the UP police filed an FIR at the Badhapur police station in Bijnor under section 307 (attempt to murder) of IPC, section 3/4 of TADA and under provisions of the Arms Act.
The court sentenced the policemen for abduction, murder and criminal conspiracy.
The CBI filed a chargesheet against 19 persons. Two persons died during the course of the trial and court hearings. All 17 belong to Badhapur police station area of Bijnor.
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