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DSP’s killing in Mewat: None of cops had weapons, ammunitions during the mining raid
The inquiry report of the CoI headed by retired Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) judge LN Mittal which was tabled in the state assembly on Tuesday said the DSP’s gunman, Umesh Kumar was not having any weapon, arm or ammunition because he was assigned duty on that very day and was asked by the DSP to accompany him even before the gunman could get arms and ammunition issued
The one man commission of inquiry (CoI) constituted to look into circumstances leading to the assault and death of Taoru deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Surinder Singh during a 2022 raid on illegal miners has pointed out that none of the police officials were carrying weapons, arms or ammunition when the incident happened on July 19, 2022.
The inquiry report of the CoI headed by retired Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) judge LN Mittal which was tabled in the state assembly on Tuesday said the DSP’s gunman, Umesh Kumar was not having any weapon, arm or ammunition because he was assigned duty on that very day and was asked by the DSP to accompany him even before the gunman could get arms and ammunition issued.
“It is significant to notice that none of the police officials were having any weapon, arm or ammunition at that time as stated by assistant sub inspector (ASI) Sanjay Kumar, one of the three witnesses in the case,’’ the report said.
‘Without weapons cops could not do not anything’
“Consequently, even post occurrence, the police officials could not do anything to catch the dumper occupants or riders of the motorcycle while they were speeding away. The police officials could not use their vehicle to chase them because the path was strewn with stones unloaded from the speeding dumper. Obviously, on foot, the police officials could not have chased and caught the speeding dumper and the motorcycles,’’ the report said.
The CoI held that there was no physical assault, manhandling or scuffle with the police officer before the DSP was killed after being intentionally hit and run over by the dumper truck of the illegal miners.
The culpability or otherwise of the accused persons sent for prosecution by the police will be determined by the courts, the report said.
“There is not even an iota of material on record to even remotely suggest that there was any scuffle between the police party and the accused (the occupants of the dumper truck and motorcycle riders). There was no physical manhandling of the DSP by anybody.
According to the manner of occurrence narrated, neither the occupants of the dumper and motorcycle riders alighted from their vehicles nor the police officials boarded the dumper,’’ the report said.
It further said that the dumper and the motorcycle kept moving ahead and there was no physical contact between the cops and occupants of the dumper truck and bikers.
“On the other hand, if occupants of the dumper and the bikers had alighted from their vehicles and had scuffle with the cops or manhandled DSP, then perhaps there would have been no occasion of the DSP being hit or run over by the dumper,’’ the report said.
The CoI in its findings said the police officials accompanying the DSP could not have possibly saved him from being run over by the dumper in view of the facts and circumstances of the occurrence. “The cops as well as the DSP tried to save themselves from the speeding dumper. In the process, three cops were able to save themselves by jumping aside but unfortunately, the DSP was not successful in saving himself and was hit and run over by the dumper,’’ the report said.
