The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed formation of a special investigation team (SIT) headed by Thane police commissioner Jaijeet Singh to probe the alleged fake encounter of Joginder Rana alias Govind, a wanted accused in several theft cases in Nalasopara, in June 2018.
A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Gauri Godse directed the SIT to submit a preliminary investigation report within four weeks. The high court has left it to the CP to decide on the officers who will be a part of the SIT.
The HC was hearing a petition filed by Rana’s brother Surendra alleging that he was killed in a fake encounter by police and sought a probe into his brother’s death by either the Central Bureau of Investigation or an SIT. He had filed the petition soon after Rana’s death in 2018.
Rana tried to assault police with knife, say cops
At the time, the prosecution told the HC that Rana was a hardened criminal. When he tried to assault the police with the knife, they were forced to fire 2 bullet rounds and he succumbed to his injuries.
The HC, on October 30, 2018 directed the State CID to take over the investigation.
Karan Bhosale and Datta Mane, Surendra’s advocates, argued that the police did not register an FIR on their complaint against the two constables involved in the shooting. Instead, Bhosale said that the Tulinj police station had registered an FIR against a “dead person” (Rana).
The State CID has been investigating the same FIR for 5 years and there was no separate FIR against the constables, added Bhosale.
Special public prosecutor Mahesh Mule had submitted the conclusion report of the State CID’s investigation to the court on Monday. During the hearing on Tuesday, Bhosale requested the court to transfer the probe to the CBI or the SIT.
Rana shot in police encounter, says his brother
Surendra received a call on July 23, 2018 around 4.30pm, where the caller said that Rana had been shot by constables Manoj Sakpal and Mangesh Chavan of Local Crime Branch and his body was taken to Vasai Virar Municipal Hospital.
On reaching the spot, Surendra learnt that his brother was eating at a snack centre, when Sakpal and Chavan approached him on a motorbike, showed him a revolver and demanded money. When Rana refused, they chased him and fired at him. The first bullet hit his left leg and second on his chest.
