Ex-SC judge B S Chauhan to head Vikas Dubey's encounter probe panel

The Supreme Court on Wednesday approved a proposal by Uttar Pradesh government to allow former top court judge, Justice B S Chauhan to head the inquiry panel to probe into incidents of July 2 leading to killings of eight policemen in Kanpur and subsequent encounter of gangster Vikas Dubey and his henchmen on July 10.

A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, however, cautioned that the state government to not let such incidents happen in future.

The court also said the reason why Dubey was out on parole was the single-most-important factor, as Solicitor General Tushar Mehta read out terms of reference of the judicial inquiry commission.

Mehta said the panel also comprising former DGP K L Gupta and former judge Justice Sashi Kant Agarwal, would inquire into killing of Dubey and his alleged nexus with politicians and police. He also said the panel may seek assistance from the CBI and the NIA.

Also read — Vikas Dubey's post-mortem report says he died of excessive blood loss

The commission would sit in Kanpur and would submit its report within two months to the top court. The state government would provide all secretarial services to the commission, which would start functioning within a week.

The court was hearing a batch of PILs filed by advocates Ghanshyam Upadhyay and Anoop Prakash Awasthi and others for probe into the killings of policemen and encounter of Dubey and six accomplices.

During the hearing, the court declined a plea to monitor the criminal investigation, saying it would not do so just because the case received so much media publicity.

Also read — Kanpur ambush: Slain gangster Dubey's close aide, accomplice arrested

The court also clarified that pendency of panel inquiry would not come in the way of the trial of accused in killings of policemen.

On Monday, the court had asked the Uttar Pradesh government to reconstitute the judicial inquiry commission by allowing it to be headed by a former SC judge and also comprise a retired DGP.

The state had earlier formed the judicial commission headed by former Allahabad High Court judge, Justice Sashi Kant Agarwal, to inquire into incidents between July 2 and July 10, when Dubey was killed while he allegedly tried to escape when the vehicle bringing the gangster from Ujjain to Kanpur met with an accident.

The court had indicated to set up a judicial inquiry commission in Dubey's case in line with what it had done in Hyderabad encounter of four accused in gang rape and murder of a veterinary doctor in December 2019.