Allahabad HC rejects bail pleas of four cops in custodial death case
The Allahabad High Court has rejected bail applications of four Uttar Pradesh police personnel in connection with the 2021 custodial death case in Jaunpur district.
Rejecting their pleas, Justice Samit Gopal cited the CBI chargesheet, which accused the cops of causing grievous injuries to Krishna Kumar Yadav, alias Pujari, to extract a confession and subsequently murdering him by inflicting injuries sufficient to cause his death.
The CBI had also mentioned that false records were created to portray his death as an accident or assault by unknown persons rather than physical torture in police custody. The four accused cops are Jaysheel Tiwari, Ramkrit Yadav, Raj Kumar Verma and Angad Prasad Chaudhary. The CBI had filed the chargesheet against 11 police personnel after an FIR was lodged on February 12, 2021, under Sections 302 (murder), 34 (common intention), 120-B (conspiracy), among others, of the Indian Penal Code at Baksha village of Jaunpur district.
The Special CBI Judge in Lucknow subsequently framed charges on September 18, 2024.
According to the FIR, Krishna Kumar Yadav was allegedly taken from his house around 3 am on February 11, 2021, by a Special Operation Group (SOG) team and then by the Baksa SHO, along with other police personnel.
A relative claimed in the FIR that Krishna was allegedly unable to stand and shouted to his mother to save him, saying that the police would kill him. The family was subsequently informed that he died in police custody.
A division bench of the high court on September 8, 2021, had directed the transfer of the investigation of the custodial death case to the CBI.
The CBI subsequently registered its own FIR and filed a chargesheet against eleven police personnel.
The CBI relied upon the opinion of an AIIMS-Delhi medical board, which opined that the deceased had suffered multiple blunt-force injuries and that the cause of death was shock due to cumulative effects of multiple blunt-force injuries sustained to the body.
Justice Samit Gopal, while rejecting the bail, also considered the Supreme Court’s March 12, 2024, order cancelling the bail granted to co-accused Jitendra Singh.
The Supreme Court had observed that the case involved an allegation of custodial death against a member of the police force and that a stricter approach was warranted while considering bail.
It also noted the gravity of the charge under Section 302 IPC and directed the accused to surrender before the CBI Court.
In view of this, the high court, in its order dated September 30, rejected all four bail applications while directing the trial court to expedite the proceedings and avoid unnecessary adjournments.
