‘Same weapon shown as evidence in two cases’: Court acquits 2 held after ‘encounter’

The accused in the 2007 case, Rishabh Srivastava, was acquitted by a court in 2018.

Kundan Singh (50), one of the accused in the police encounter case, had been lodged in jail since his arrest in 2020. His co-accused, Amit Singh (42), was out on bail. Both are residents of Kalyanpur area in Kanpur and had no criminal antecedents, it is learnt.

During the trial, the court examined 10 prosecution witnesses.

Advocate Ravi Prakash Pathak, who was appointed amicus curiae in the case, said the court directed that an FIR (First Information Report) be registered if the police personnel are found to be guilty after an investigation. Kundan Singh was released from jail following the April 1 judgment, he added.

Pankaj Tripathi said the complainant in the case, then Nazirabad police station house officer (SHO) Gyan Singh, stated that a vehicle checking drive was held at the Mariyumpur crossing on October 21, 2020, when they received information about two motorcycle-borne criminals roaming in the area.

Later, the police team claimed to have spotted two youths coming from the Kakadev side on a motorcycle. The police signalled them to stop using a torchlight since it was dark, but the suspects fled upon sighting them, it was alleged. The police team began a chase and also alerted the control room, the complainant said.

The staff at the Armapur police station were informed and asked to intercept the suspects, it was claimed in the FIR, adding that the two opened fire at the police team. The police returned fire, injuring the two, and later rushed them to hospital, the FIR stated. The two had sustained bullet injuries on their legs.

A case under charges of attempt to murder, Arms Act, and other provisions was registered against the two, and the police claimed to have recovered two country-made pistols, cartridges, and a brown-coloured chain from them.

The police filed a chargesheet against the two after an “investigation.”

Advocate Ravi Prakash Pathak said that during the trial in the case, the two weapons allegedly recovered from the two accused were presented in the court.

“One of the weapons, a country-made pistol, that was purportedly recovered from Amit had a marking with a pen, indicating that it had earlier been submitted as evidence in a case in 2014,” Pathak stated.

“Upon verifying the marking and the court records, it was found that the same weapon had been shown as recovered from Rishabh Srivastava, a local resident, in 2007 in an Arms Act case. Rishabh was acquitted by the court in 2018 and no appeal was filed against his acquittal,” he added.