Fake encounter: SC rejects bail plea of sacked Delhi ACP

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the bail plea of dismissed Assistant Commissioner of Police (Delhi), S S Rathi, serving life imprisonment for killing two Haryana-based businessmen at Connaught Place here in 1997 due to alleged "mistaken identity."

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the bail plea of dismissed Assistant Commissioner of Police (Delhi), S S Rathi, serving life imprisonment for killing two Haryana-based businessmen at Connaught Place here in 1997 due to alleged "mistaken identity."

HT Image

A bench of justices Dalveer Bhandari and A K Patnaik, however, sought response from the CBI and the Delhi Government on Rathi's plea challenging his conviction and life sentence in the case relating to gunning down of businessmen Pradeep Goyal and Jagjit Singh on March 31, 1997.

The apex court rejected plea that he was entitled to bail as he had already been in jail for over five years and as an appeal is being filed against the conviction.

The shootout had led to the removal of then Delhi Police Commissioner Nikhil Kumar, who is now a Congress MP from Bihar.

The investigation in the case was carried out by the CBI, which accused ten policemen of indiscriminately firing at the victims without any provocation near the Statesman House building at Connaught Place.

The Delhi High Court had on September 18 upheld the conviction and life sentence awarded to ten policemen, including Rathi, for the killing in an alleged fake encounter which the accused officials claimed happened due to mistaken identity.