17 Uttarakhand cops get life term for killing MBA grad

A Delhi court on Monday awarded life imprisonment to 17 Uttarakhand police personnel who were convicted for gunning down a 22-year-old MBA graduate in a fake encounter in a jungle near Dehradun in 2009.

Special CBI judge J P S Malik handed down the jail term to the 17 policemen after holding them guilty on June 6 of involvement in the conspiracy to kidnap and kill Ghaziabad resident Ranbir Singh, who went to Dehradun to take up a job on July 3, 2009.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each on seven cops -- six sub-inspectors Santosh Kumar Jaiswal, Gopal Dutt Bhatt (station house officer), Rajesh Bisht, Neeraj Kumar, Nitin Kumar Chauhan, Chander Mohan Singh Rawat and constable Ajit Singh -- who were held guilty of killing the victim.

It also directed 10 other policemen, convicted for conspiracy to kidnap and kill Ranbir, to furnish a fine of Rs 20,000 each.

The court asked the authorities concerned to give the fine collected as compensation to the family of Ranbir, who had graduated in MBA from Meerut University.

However, the victim’s family, which was present in the court, expressed unhappiness over the verdict and said they will appeal against it in the higher court.

The victim's mother, who was seen crying, said, "I want death for all the policemen who killed my younger son."

Meanwhile, the wife of one of the convicts, Santosh Kumar Jaiswal, broke down in the courtroom, saying, "Where will we go? He (Santosh) is the only earning member in the family."

The court, which convicted policeman Jaspal Singh Gosain for the offence of a public servant framing incorrect record with an intention to save a person from punishment (section 218 IPC), however, awarded him two years imprisonment, which he has already undergone during the trial period.

Gosain, the then head operator at city control room, who was acquitted of all the other charges, was directed to furnish a bail bond of Rs 50,000 and a surety of the like amount.