Four youth gunned down branded as dacoits
By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
Bhopal: Has the much talked about and being among the top news headlines in the media the infamous Sohrabuddin encounter case of Gujarat Police been copied and enacted by their counterparts in Madhya Pradesh?
It seems so that Madhya Pradesh Police following in the footsteps of the Gujarat Police in terms of fake police encounters allegedly gunned down four youth terming them as “dacoits” in Bhind district of the state on Sunday last. The police allegedly hatching up a conspiracy planned to eliminate the four youth branding them as “dacoits” in a fake encounter to earn laurels, medals and promotions. After picking up the youth treacherously, the police made them to put on the dresses of Army and police force to masquerading as dacoits and then shot them in cold blood in a bid to gallop to fame and annex gallantry medals and departmental promotions. There are many holes in the police version of the encounter as the police has no satisfactory answers to many questions regarding its story of the incident.
Killed youth, family alleges it is a case of fake encounter.
Two of the killed youth were made to put on the Army’s camouflaged dresses while the other two police uniforms which were not of their body sizes. One of the youth was made to wear a very loose pair of trousers which was tightened with the help of a belt below the waist to hold on to the body. This is easily visible in the photographs of the killed “dacoits”. It can be seen that the killed youth on extreme left in the photograph, who is in police uniform, has belt tucked below his waist to hold on to loose pair of pants.
It is interesting to note here that the so-called “encounter” which took place under the Andori police station the Town Inspector, (TI), S. S. Sikarwar of the police station was recruited as a constable and climbed the rungs of the promotional ladder and reached the TI post after gunning down about 16 dacoits over the years.
Media reports said that family members of one of the alleged bandit have gathered courage to speak out about the fake encounter demanding registering of murder case against the Bhind’s Superintendent of Police, (SP), Chanchal Shekhar and his full team involved in the heinous crime. The family members of Amjad Khan alias Fauji, resident of Kazian village, who was among the four persons killed in the “encounter” have claimed that he was deceitfully picked up from home and murdered. Amjad was an Army jawan till sometime back.
According to deceased Amjad’s wife he was taken away by police saying he is being taken to mark his attendance in a case. However, it is learnt that with the help of Amjad police picked up three other youth Raju Banjara, Udal Badhai and Ravindra Udainia and then gunned down the four-some in alleged fake encounter in the ravines of Aasan river near Baknasa village of Bhind district under Andori police station.
Amjad’s family members charged that all the four youth were made to wear new pair of shoes and then disembarking them in the ravines of Aasan river from vehicles they were shot down from close range. Amjad’s wife says that her husband never put on shoes without socks while the bodies of all the four youth have shoes tucked without socks.
Amjad’s brother Firoz Khan, who is a constable in the Madhya Pradesh Police and is posted in the University Road police station in Gwalior, has alleged that policemen involved in the “encounter” have threatened him and his family members with dire consequences. He fears for his life and safety of other family members. He reportedly accused Sikarwar, the in-charge of Andori police station, of threatening him. He said when he was waiting for Amjad’s body outside the hospital in Gohad, Sikarwar used abusive language against him and also pointed his service pistol towards him to brow beat him.
While Amjad’s father Basheer Khan claimed that Sikarwar had visited his house on August 9 looking for Amjad. He said the policeman wanted Amjad to provide information about two persons who were involved in a petrol pump loot case. He said Amjad, who had only one case registered against him, was picked up from his house on August 19 by the police. Amjad was betrayed by his own friend who connived with the police and got him killed, Basheer added.
Meanwhile, Bhind SP Chanchal Shekhar has reportedly denied the charges hurled at the police. He said that police had approached Firoz Khan on several occasions in the past asking him to get his brother surrendered but the exercise proved futile. Firoz used to claim that that he was not in touch with his brother for last seven years and now when Amjad has been killed he is making such wild allegations, Shekhar charged.
The Opposition Congress MLA Govind Singh in Bharatiya Janata Party ruled Madhya Pradesh has also demanded a magisterial inquiry into the encounter alleging that those killed were only petty criminals and not dacoits.