CP shootout: Ex-encounter specialist gets lifer

The Delhi High Court on Friday upheld the conviction and life sentence of 10 policemen, including a senior officer, for the killing of two Haryana-based businessmen in a fake encounter due to mistaken identity at Connaught Place here in 1997.

A bench comprising Justices B N Chaturvedi and G S Sistani concurred with the trial court judgment of October 24, 2007 holding dismissed Assistant Commissioner of Police S S Rathi and others guilty of murder.

The other nine convicts are Inspector Anil Kumar, Sub-Inspector Ashok Rana, Head Constables Shiv Kumar, Tejpal Singh and Mahavir Singh and Constables Sumer Singh, Subhash Chand, Sunil Kumar and Kothari Ram.

A Delhi Police Crime Branch team led by encounter specialist Rathi had on March 31, 1997, fired indiscriminately after suspecting that the businessmen were Uttar Pradesh-based gangsters wanted by the police.