13 cops booked for fake encounter

Two years ago,the STF was looking for history-sheeter Santosh Pandey,wanted for the murder of a police constable in Sultanpur. The team believed one Suraj uraj Singh knew his whereabouts. They allegedly picked up Suraj,tortured him to get information about Pandey.

Twenty-five-year-old Suraj,belonging to Sultanpur district,was allegedly abducted by a STF team from Faizabad on February 12,2007. He was taken to Lucknow’s Chowk area and killed.

“On February 13,they killed my son,” said Suraj’s father Amresh Pratap Singh. Suraj was kidnapped from Faizabad’s Naka area where he ran a stationery shop,he added.

Later,on his complaint,and after it was taken up by human rights activists,the state government asked the CB-CID to investigate the incident.

“I had approached the National Human Rights Commission. Following this,the Central Bureau of Investigation had started an investigation,” said Singh.

Among those named in the FIR are ASP (STF) Vijay Bhushan,DSP Jai Prakash Yadav,sub-inspectors Jai Prakash Pandey,Amar Singh Raghuvanshi and Sacchidanand Singh,and eight constables. They are yet to be arrested. Santosh Pandey is also still at large.