Fake encounter: U'khand govt asks for CBI probe

Bowing down to pressure, the Uttarakhand government on Wednesday asked the Centre to initiate a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the killing of an MBA graduate in an alleged fake encounter in Dehradun last week, after doubts were raised about the impartiality of a probe being conducted by the state police.

"The state government wants a transparent probe. Keeping in mind the feelings of Ranvir Singh's parents, we have recommended to the Centre that it order a CBI investigation into the case," Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said.

The state government had earlier handed over the probe to Crime Branch - Criminal Investigation Department into the killing of the 22-year-old Ranvir, from Ghaziabad who was gunned down by Uttarakhand police last Friday, after he allegedly fled with a revolver of a sub-inspector when stopped by the police during checking.

"Even if the Centre accepts the recommendation for a CBI probe, the CB-CID investigation will continue in the case," Additional Secretary (Home) Bhaskaranand said.

To ensure that the probe is not 'influenced', the chief minister said that Dehradun Superintendent of Police had been removed and six other policemen shifted to police lines. "Anyone found guilty will not be spared," he said.

The police have also launched a search for two companions of Ranbir Singh.

A police team, which was sent to Baghpat district in Uttar Pradesh in search of the two youths who were accompanying 22-year-old Ranbir Singh on a motorcycle, returned to Dehradun empty handed on Wednesday.

The police personnel are being sent to other areas of Meerut and Baghpat districts in search of the two youths whose identities have not been revealed. The police had claimed that during the search, they found a weapon in their bag, and they fled with the revolver of a sub-inspector. The boys were intercepted at another place and Ranbir was killed in an encounter while the whereabouts of the other two remain unknown.

The police are also searching for Pervez Anjum, a resident of Dalanwala in Dehradun, who is an 'eyewitness' to the incident but has gone missing since Friday night. With an autopsy indicating that Ranbir might have been tortured before being killed, a 15-member Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department team was constituted to look into the case.

A case of murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, against 14 police personnel involved in the encounter, was registered on Sunday night at Raipur police station. Other eyewitnesses are also being questioned, police sources said.

Although the police have maintained that Ranvir was killed after he snatched the service revolver of sub-inspector G D Bhatt, Ranbir's family claimed that he was gunned down in a fake encounter.