The Uttarakhand government has finally decided to hand over investigation of the ‘encounter’ death of a 24-year-old Ghaziabad youth to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The decision was taken on Wednesday following a meeting of senior officials. The meeting was chaired by Principal Secretary (Home) Subhash Kumar.
Ranbir Singh, an MBA, was shot dead by a team of Dehradun police on July 3.
“We have sent a letter to the Centre with a request to hand over investigation of the Ranbir Singh ‘encounter’ case to the CBI,” Kumar told HT.
Immediately after the shooting, the police claimed the youth was killed in an encounter in the Ladpur forest area. The provocation was attributed to the victim and two of his associates attacking a sub-inspector with his service revolver.
But protests by family members of the victim and the post-mortem report indicating that Ranbir was probably tortured and shot several times on his chest from close range punched several holes in the police story.
On Saturday, a day after the shooting, the matter was handed over to the Crime Branch of the CID. A magisterial inquiry was also ordered.
The next day, the state government removed the Dehradun senior superintendent of police from his post and sent six policemen involved in the encounter to the Police Lines.
{{/usCountry}}The next day, the state government removed the Dehradun senior superintendent of police from his post and sent six policemen involved in the encounter to the Police Lines.
{{/usCountry}}All this was reportedly done under the influence of BJP President Rajnath Singh, who represents Ghaziabad in the Lok Sabha.
On Monday night, Ranbir’s father lodged an FIR in the Raipur police station, accusing 12 police personnel of murdering his son. He also complained that two senior officials had threatened and manhandled him as well.