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+and+Udal+Badhai+wife+Rani+(left)+weeping+at+the+Press+conference+while+narrating+their+tragedy.jpg)
Amjad Khan wife
Yasmeen (right) and Udal Badhai wife Rani (left) weeping at the Press conference
while narrating their tragedy.
Amjad killed in fake encounter was Youth Congress
secretary; MP Congress demands CBI probe
Bhopal, August 28 (Pervez Bari): Thirty-three-year-old youth Amjad Khan, the
ex-Lance Nayak in the Indian Army and Kargil war warrior, who was branded as
"dacoit" by the personnel of Madhya Pradesh Police and gunned down in an
alleged fake encounter on the intervening night of August 21-22 along with
three others, was in fact a pro-active youth Congress leader of Bhind and
Gwalior regions of the state. After having put in 11 years of service in the
Army he sought voluntary retirement he was working as secretary of Bhind
District Youth Congress .
Police claimed to have killed n fake encounter four youth dubbing them as
“dacoits”. Those killed in last Sunday's encounter included: Raju Banjara,
Amjad Khan, Ravindra Ujenia and Udal Badahi.
The Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee, (MPCC), vice president Dr. Govind Singh
& Congress Deputy Leader of Opposition in the state Vidhan Sabha Choudhary
Rakesh Singh addressing a joint Press conference here have demanded a Central
Bureau of Investigation, (CBI), probe into the matter. If the state Chief
Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan fails to concede their demand in the interest
of justice then they would knock the doors of court of law and also launch a
people’s campaign to pressure the government to heed to the request.
The MPCC submitted a memorandum to the state Governor Rameshwar Thakur urging
him to direct the state government to order CBI investigations into the
so-called “encounter” and register murder cases against the police officials
involved in this heinous crime. Furthermore the state government must make
security arrangements for the family members of the deceased Amjad Khan, the
memorandum also demanded.
The Governor reportedly has sought a report on the said fake encounter from
the Madhya Pradesh Director General of Police S. K. Raut following the
submission of the memorandum by MPCC. The wife, father and uncle of Amjad and
wife, child and father of another victim Udal Badahi were specially brought by
MPCC from Bhind met the Governor who in their presence telephonically ordered
to submit a written report at the earliest. The family members of the deceased
were also present at the Press conference.
Dr. Govind Singh, who is a former minister, described the episode not just a
fake encounter but the biggest “manslaughter” of Bhind district since India’s
Independence. In the Bhind district there have been 15 police encounters in
last two years of which about half-a-dozen have been fake, he claimed. The
fake encounters are committed by the police to lap up laurels, medals and out
of turn departmental promotions, he charged. He said minorities who are
politically active are not safe in Madhya Pradesh.
He said many loopholes in the police version has exposed its claims. He
pointed out that the residents of village Baknasa, having a population between
2500-3000, where on its outskirts the alleged fake encounter took place heard
only three to four rounds of firing while the police claimed that 72 rounds
were fired in the encounter.
Dr. Govind revealed that the police party led by Bhind’s Superintendent of
Police, (SP), Chanchal Shekhar which claimed the “honours of the encounter”
were nailed down by the villagers. The villagers questioned that the boots of
the police party were not soiled at all with the soggy black cotton soil as
loads of black soil was not sticking to it. The boots of all the members of
police party as well as the new shoes tucked in the feet of the killed
“bandits” were clean as ever. The SP was non-plussed at this and immediately
ordered the suspension of video-graphing of the “after the encounter scene”
and made a hasty retreat.
Another lie that has been nailed is about the arms recovered from the
“Bandits”. The police claimed that first these “bandits” fired and then police
party fired in self-defence. The said arms recovered were so much of condemned
and poor quality that on the basis of this any Tom, Dick and Harry can say
that none can engage in encounters with such weapons.
It may be pointed out here that the police had made the four youth to put on
the dresses of Army and police force to make them appear masquerading as
dacoits and then shot them in cold blood. Two of the killed youth were made to
put on the Army’s camouflaged dresses while the other two had police uniforms
on them which were not of their body sizes. One of the youth was made to wear
a very loose pair of trousers which was tightened with the help of a belt
below the waist to hold on to the body.
Dr. Govind asserted that late Amjad Khan was very active politically and
socially and claimed he had documentary proof of the same. The deceased was
resident of Daboh Kasba of Bhind district and it was a respectable family of
the area. He said Amjad along with his wife Yasmeen Khan, who is Lahar block
president of women Congress, was pro-active which often exposed the
wrong-doings of the police and others in the area and at times police was at
the receiving ends and was seen in bad light. This probably antagonized the
police and it was on the look out to eliminate him, Govind quoting Amjad’s
family members said.
The police officials Surendra Singh Sikarwar, the then Daboh police station
in-charge, and Kamta Prasad Sharma, Asstt. Sub-Inspector, were the two main
persons who wanted to settle scores with Amjad. They had publicly declared to
teach Amjad a lesson as a result of which he would forget to dabble with
politics. As such he was framed in July 5, 2010 kidnapping case of two
scrape-dealer brothers Pradeep Gupta and Hareesh Gupta in Gwalior town of the
state. The dealers were set free the same day after Amjad allegedly extorted a
ransom of Rs. 11 lakh. However, Amjad was picked up from his home in a
deceptive manner.
It may be mentioned here that a vernacular daily “Parivar Today” of Gwalior
had in its August 13, 2010 edition had expressed apprehensions over the police
intention of organizing a fake encounter following the alleged kidnapping of
the two scrape-dealers. And this has come very much true.
It is interesting to note here that as if the kidnapped dealers knew that
their tormentors will be gunned down that fateful night and they would have to
rush to identify their bodies. The police also knew in advance that the
bandits to be shot down were kidnappers of the scrape-dealers. As such in the
wee hours of August 22 the two dealer siblings and their father rushed to the
spot and identified the killed “bandits”. What a coincidence! “What a perfect
planning”.
Meanwhile, Choudhary Rakesh Singh charged that Madhya Pradesh Police has
become impotent and is unable to control law and order situation in the state.
He alleged that cases of encounter have gone up in the Chambal area of the
state and that encounters are staged to garner medals and out of turn
promotions together with to divert people’s attention.
Singh training his gun against the state Home Minister Umashankar Gupta said
the minister is proving totally inefficient to streamline the police force and
control law and order in the state. As such the Home Minister has no right to
stick to his post and should resign forthwith.
(pervezbari@eth.net)
Did Madhya
Pradesh Police commit a Sohrabuddin type encounter?
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