Supreme Court upholds acquittal of 3 UP cops in 1987 killing of man in alleged 'fake encounter'

The apex court said the chain of circumstances doesn't totally indicate that the accused persons and no one else committed the crime.

The Supreme Court has set free three Uttar Pradesh police constables in a case related to the killing of a man in an alleged fake encounter 36 years ago.

The top court said the chain of circumstances in the case was not complete to indicate that in all human probability, it were the accused persons and no one else committed the crime.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Manoj Misra picked up holes in the CBI's case, saying two prime witnesses who accompanied the deceased on the fateful date could not identify the accused. It also pointed out the deceased died of injuries from a .12 bore gun, which was not issued to the accused policemen.

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"Here the circumstances found proved do not constitute a chain so far complete as to indicate that in all human probability it were the accused persons and no one else who committed the crime. In such a situation, there was no option for the trial court but to extend the benefit of doubt to the accused," the bench said.

The apex court upheld the acquittal of Anil Kumar, Shyam Bihari and Arshad Ali by the Uttarakhand High Court which had confirmed the trial court's 2011 judgement allowing them to walk free of the charges of committing offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 32 of the IPC. The CBI filed an appeal against the Uttarakhand High Court's judgement of July 26, 2012.

The FIR lodged by Pramod Kumar Tyagi, claimed he, along with Sudeep, in one scooter and Raj Kumar Balyan in another were going from Muzaffarnagar to Meerapur to attend a marriage function on June 24, 1987.

At 9.30 pm, they saw three policemen, standing on road. One of the policemen flashed a torch light on them. As a result, their scooters lost balance and skidded. One of the policemen exhorted to shoot to kill. In consequence, shots were fired hitting Balyan, who collapsed at the spot. He succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital.

However, the policemen lodged another FIR alleging, they were on patrol dury in village due to robbery on May 26, 1987. They saw two scooters coming at a fast speed. On signal to stop, the rider fired a shot. As a result retaliatory shots were fired by the police and the villagers resulting into injury to the deceased.