14 UP policemen booked for murder over 2021 Chitrakoot fake encounter

Bhalchandra Yadav, said to be a member of the Gauri gang, was allegedly kidnapped by Chitrakoot police while he was returning from a court in Satna in Madhya Pradesh.

A former superintendent of police and 13 other UP policemen have been booked for murder for killing a gangster in an alleged fake encounter last year, officials familiar with the matter said.

Bhalchandra Yadav, said to be a member of the Gauri gang, was allegedly kidnapped by Chitrakoot police while he was returning from a court in Satna in Madhya Pradesh.

He was killed on same evening in a fake encounter, claimed his wife Nathunia, who had moved court asking for an investigation in the killing.

He was shot in the chest but there was no hole or blood on his shirt that clearly showed he was killed in police custody and his body was dressed up later, she claimed.

Special judge Vineet Narayan Pandey of the anti-dacoity court ordered the lodging of an FIR.

“The FIR was lodged at the Bahilpurva police station on Friday evening as per a special court order,” news agency PTI quoted additional superintendent of police (ASP) Shailendra Kumar Rai as saying.

The accused, including former Chitrakoot SP Ankit Mittal, have been booked under IPC sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 364 (kidnapping), and 396 (dacoity) among others, the officer said.

Bhalchandra Yadav, a resident of Padvaniya village in Satna, was kidnapped on March 31, 2021, by a Chitrakoot police team, said Rajendra Yadav, Nathunia’s lawyer. He had gone to court with his brother Lal Chandra.

The complaint said there were marks on the body that clearly showed he was tortured before he was killed, the lawyer said.

“The case has been lodged 10 months after the complaint was submitted in the court,” the lawyer said.

“We are asking that the investigation be conducted by another agency as we have no faith in Chitrakoot police.”