The Central Bureau of Investigati on (CBI) on Friday filed a charge sheet in Lucknow’s special judicial magistrate court against six policemen accused of murdering Kanpur businessman Manish Gupta in a Gorakhpur hotel in September 2021, the agency said in a statement.
The accused include the then station house officer Jagat Narayan Singh, then sub-inspectors Akshay Kumar Mishra, Vijay Yadav, Rahul Dubey, then head constable Kamlesh Singh Yadav and constable Prashant Kumar.
All accused are currently in jail.
According to the charge sheet, the accused have been charged under sections 302 (murder), 323, 325, 506, 218, 201 (destruction of evidence) all read with Sections 34, 120-B and 149 of IPC (Indian Penal Code).
The CBI had registered a case on November 2021 following a notification by the Uttar Pradesh government. The FIR was lodged by Gupta’s wife Meenakshi.
According to a CBI spokesperson, it was alleged that on September 27, Manish Gupta checked into a hotel room in Gorakhpur, falling under the jurisdiction of the Ramgarh Tal police station.
“It was further alleged that in the intervening night of September 27 and 28, 2021, at about 12:00 am, the SHO, along with two sub-inspectors and three other police personnel, entered into the room of the said hotel and started misbehaving with Manish Gupta,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“It was further alleged that in the intervening night of September 27 and 28, 2021, at about 12:00 am, the SHO, along with two sub-inspectors and three other police personnel, entered into the room of the said hotel and started misbehaving with Manish Gupta,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The spokesperson said it was also alleged that after Gupta protested, the policemen started beating him, resulting in grievous injuries. Gupta died on the spot, the CBI spokesperson said.
The policemen were on the run since Gupta’s death on September 27. JN Singh and Akshay Mishra were the first to be arrested on October 10. Kanpur commissioner of police Asim Arun had confirmed their arrest at the time.
The police had initially claimed that Gupta died due to injuries caused to him when he slipped on the floor due to the chaos caused by the sudden police checking.
However, the post-mortem report revealed that Gupta’s body bore grave injury marks including big 5×4 cm deep and swollen wound in the middle of the forehead, clotting in the right eyelid and deep wound in the forearm.
The Uttar Pradesh government on October 1 recommended a CBI probe into Gupta’s death. The recommendation to this effect was made to the central government on the directives of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, additional chief secretary (home) Awanish K Awasthi, had said in a press statement.