Dehradun: The Uttarakhand police have booked six cops in connection with the death of a gym trainer, whose body with injury marks was recovered from a pond in Roorkee village in August last year.
The accused cops were identified as sub inspector Sharad Singh, constables Sunil Saini and Praveen Saini and three unidentified others. The first information report (FIR) was registered under sections 3 (5) (common intention), 103 (1) (murder), and 351 (3) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) following an order of the 3rd additional sessions judge Rakesh Kumar Singh on September 4, dismissing an appeal filed by cops against the July order of chief judicial magistrate (CJM), Avinash Kumar Srivastava for registration of the FIR against them.
The Haridwar police had claimed that Wasim (24) was carrying cow meat on a scooter and jumped into the pond of Madhopur village in Roorkee while he was being chased by Cow Protection Squad of the Ganganahar police station in the early hours of August 25, 2024, while the deceased’s family alleged that he was beaten mercilessly by the police before throwing him into the pond, which led to his death.
Wasim’s cousin Alauddin had given a complaint to Ganganagar police station on August 25, 2024 for the registration of the FIR against the police officials, but the police didn’t file any case. Alauddin then approached the court to direct the police to register an FIR.
The court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Avinash Kumar Srivastava on July 2 directed the Ganganagar police station in charge to file FIR against sub inspector Sharad Singh, Constable Sunil Saini, Praveen Saini and three other unidentified cops and present a copy of the FIR within 24 hours. The court also directed the senior superintendent of police (SSP) Haridwar to appoint a circle officer (CO) rank officer to investigate the case. The court also said the postmortem report of Wasim stated that six injuries were found on his body and it “clearly shows that the deceased was beaten very badly” before his death. “From the application of the applicant, prima facie, it appears to be a case of murder,” the court said.
However, the three cops approached the 3rd additional sessions judge, saying the CJM court order was “against the law” and “judicial discretion was not exercised while passing the order” and sought to cancel the order. “…if the deceased was beaten up by the police, then someone would have seen the incident of beating, but on the contrary, there is evidence that the deceased slipped and fell into the pond while trying to escape the police…and the allegations are false,” the cops claimed in their petition.
Haridwar superintendent of police (Rural) Shekhar Chandra Suyal said, “We have registered the FIR on the orders of the court on Saturday and an investigation into the matter is underway.”
In their statement, the Haridwar Police had last year said that the Cow Protection Squad of the Ganganahar police station stopped a “suspicious” scooter rider in Madhopur village in the early hours of August 25 after the police received inputs of cow meat smuggling. Police further claimed that the rider then left the scooter and fled, and subsequently jumped into the village pond to escape police. The suspect drowned in the pond, it said. The police statement further stated the family of the suspect and other villagers surrounded them, held them hostage, and abused and assaulted police officials, accusing them of killing the suspect and throwing him into the pond. The police also said the scooter and meat was stolen from the spot.
The police had also claimed that a similar case was registered against Wasim in 2020 under Uttarakhand Protection of Cow Progeny Act. A special investigation team (SIT) was constituted to investigate the case.
Alauddin, on the other hand, claimed Wasim had gone to his sister’s house in Madhopur. “When he was returning to his home (on scooty), sub inspector Sharad Singh, constables Sunil Saini and Praveen Saini and three other cops stopped him near kabristan (graveyard) located in the Madhopur village. They started beating him and threw him into the pond. They didn’t allow him to come out despite his repeated attempts. Hearing his screams, Sufiyan, Sonu and others tried to save him, but the policemen threatened them to go away or they would be shot.”
Refuting the allegations, the police in its investigation stated that the injuries on his body were likely caused by hitting a solid object. The police also attributed the missing lower lip of the deceased to a fish bite in the pond.