E-Paper
Anandpal Singh encounter: CBI's closure report rejected, cops to face murder case
Gangster Anandpal Singh was shot dead in Rajasthan's Churu in June 2017.
In a major development, a CBI court on Wednesday rejected the central probe agency's closure report in the case related to the encounter of Rajasthan gangster Anandpal Singh, and directed that a case be filed under various charges, including murder, against the police personnel involved.
The order was passed by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Yuvraj Singh on a petition by Anandpal's wife Raj Kanwar against the closure report of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that gave clean chit to the-then Churu SP Rahul Barhat, DSP (Kuchaman City) Vidhya Prakash, Inspector Surya Veer Singh, head constables Kailash Chandra and Sohan Singh, and constables Dharmpal and Dharmveer.
The accused are to be booked under charges of rioting (IPC sections 147 and 148), murder (302), voluntarily causing grievous injury by dangerous weapons (324, 325, 326) read with section 149 (holding individuals accountable for an offence committed by a group), the judge ruled.
A dreaded gangster, Anandpal Singh was killed in a police encounter in Churu's Malasar village on June 24, 2017. The police team claimed that after cordoning off the house where he was hiding, they asked him to surrender but he began firing instead, and was killed in the ensuing operation.
However, following massive protests by the Rajput community, which alleged 'foul play,' the Rajasthan government, then headed by Vasundhara Raje Scindia of the BJP, handed over the case to the CBI in December 2017.
In August 2019, the agency closed the case, concluding through its probe that the encounter wasn't 'fake.' In May last year, Anandpal's family moved court against the closure.
‘Anandpal had surrendered’
Bhanwar Singh, the counsel of Raj Kanwar, the deceased gangster's spouse, said that after hearing both sides, the CBI court observed that the 42-year-old had surrendered but was shot dead.
“When the police reached the house, Anandpal was present on the roof. They asked his brother Rupender to convince him to surrender, assuring both that they will not harm Anandpal. He surrendered but the police beat him up and shot him from a close range,” Singh earlier told the court.
“Cartridges were found of the roof where Anandpal was shot, while the police had claimed that they fired from the ground and did not go up. DSP Vidhya Prakash's presence on the spot has also not been mentioned by the CBI, though the used cartridge from his pistol had been found on the roof,” he added.
(With PTI inputs)
