Loopholes galore in Dehradun Police’s ‘encounter’ story

Sinha had gone on to tell the media persons that an alert has been sounded off in all the medical establishments regarding the two injured boys.

Narender Singh who is a retired senior police official having worked in Crime Branch of Uttar Pradesh police and had himself been a part of several encounters with criminals,told The Indian Express,“From the evidence that has been reported till now,it seems to be a very hasty action on the part of the police. They could have got everything from him by arresting and then interrogating him. Arrest is always the best when it comes to tackling crime.”

He further said,“Whenever there is a visit of a dignitary like the President to the city,the Police can never allow triple riding on motor bikes in the city.”

The police have been claiming that three motorcycle borne youth on being stopped a police sub inspector in the posh Dalanwala had fled after beating him and snatching his service revolver.

They had panicked on being approached by the police official since two of them were carrying country made fire arms. The police say that the number of the motorcycle on which they had fled was flashed around and they were intercepted by the police on the ring road.

They claim that the three had tried to flee by firing at the police and one of them was killed in the exchange of fire while the remaining two had managed to escape. The police also say that the motorcycle recovered from the spot of the incident was a stolen one and belongs to a resident of Panipat district in Haryana.

However,a major flaw has emerged in the claim of the deceased’s family that the boy was to join a private concern in Selaqui as the officials at the office of the firm disclosed on conditions of anonymity that they had no intimation of the boy being recruited for their office and neither did they know of any campus recruitment done for the purpose.

Another major lacuna in the police story is the 28 injuries that have been pointed in the autopsy report. Narender Singh pointed,“There were 28 ante mortem injuries which the Police will find difficult to explain.”

Out of these 12 were bullet injuries but the remaining were non bullet injuries which are a pointer the possibility of the boy having been tortured.

As human rights activist and a Nainital based lawyer PC Tewari said,“The blackening of his skin at the spot where he had been hit by the bullets which suggests that he had been shot from less than three feet. Since he was shot in the chest,this defies the police claims that he was trying to flee.”

Former Director General of Police (DGP) from Uttar Pradesh CL Pradyot said,“The truth will eventually come out in the enquiry but the questions being raised are very pertinent. At times there are chances of police officials being misled by their own colleagues.”