Not a single encounter occurred in Uttarakhand after Ranbir Singh fake encounter case which was reported in 2009. A total of 112 encounter cases including 58 in Haridwar district were reported since the inception of Uttarakhand in 2,000.
The Delhi CBI court on Monday gave landmark verdict and awarded life imprisonment to 17 Uttarakhand police personnel who were convicted for gunning down a 22-year-old MBA graduate in a fake encounter in a jungle near Dehradun in 2009.
While interacting with the media Ranbir Singh's father expressed satisfaction over this verdict wherein 17 policemen were sentenced to life imprisonment though they were expecting death sentence for all of them. He will appeal against this verdict in the higher court. According to him, after CBI court's verdict on this case, no policemen or police officer will dare to kill the person in the fake encounter.
According to data from the Police Headquarter, not a single encounter occurred in Uttarakhand after Ranbir Singh’s fake encounter case in 2009. There were exchanges of fire between criminals and policemen in the last five years but police did not kill criminals in an encounter.
A total of 112 encounter cases were reported between 2000 and 2009 in Uttarakhand. Of these, 58 encounter cases were reported in Haridwar district, 22 in Dehradun, 17 in Udham Singh Nagar, 12 in Nainital, two in Pauri and one in Almora. Not a single encounter case was reported in Pithoragarh, Tehri, Bageshwar, Champawat, Rudraprayag, Uttarkashi and Chamoli districts since 2000.
Moreover, constables Angeshwar and Anuj of Dhara Chowki had gone to Neshvilla Road on September 30 last year responding to a complaint about a brawl between two groups. After reaching there, they stopped a person and enquired about his identity. Instead of telling his identity, Raju boxer allegedly stabbed both of them. A police constable in Haldwani, Surendra Singh, was killed by a thief near a police post.
The thief who had been arrested in a two-wheeler theft case attacked the constable with an iron rod. Around 3.45 am on May 28, 2014, the accused Rajendra Kumar tried to escape after freeing himself from the restraining rope. On seeing this constable Surendra Singh and other policemen began chasing Kumar and about 500 metres from the police post, Kumar saw an iron rod on the roadside and threw it at constable Singh. The rod hit Singh on the chest and he fell down after sustaining serious injury. Other policemen managed to arrest the accused. The seriously injured constable was admitted in the local hospital where he was declared dead by doctors. A case under appropriate sections of IPC was registered against the accused in Haldwani police station. In several instances in Haridwar district, there were exchange of fire between policemen and criminals in the past but no one was killed by the police in any of these encounters.