Fugitive retired UP cop surrenders in fake encounter case

A deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) rank officer, accused of an alleged fake encounter of an engineering student in 2002, finally surrendered in court and was sent to jail.

The surrender on Wednesday came a day after the police announced a reward of Rs 25,000 on the officer, who has now retired.

Bulandshahr SSP Santosh Singh said that Randhir Singh had surrendered in a local court.

"The court has been issuing warrants and summons against Singh since 2017. In 2019, a non-bailable warrant was issued against him, but he did not appear before the court. We announced a reward on him on Tuesday following which he surrendered. The court has sent Singh to 14 days in judicial custody," he said.

The reward was announced shortly after the Supreme Court reprimanded the Uttar Pradesh government for "shielding police officers" and slapped a fine of Rs 7 lakh on the state.

It may be recalled that Pradeep Kumar, 19, a B Tech student, was on his way to Delhi to meet his aunt, when he was shot dead in an alleged staged encounter after a robbery in a roadways bus on August 3, 2002.

The police team led by the then inspector of Secunderabad, Randhir Singh, was booked for murder on the direction of a local court, which had rejected the CB-CID report that gave a clean chit to the team.

Pradeep Kumar's father who had been pursuing the case for over 19 years, approached the Supreme Court alleging lack of progress in the case.

The apex court, on September 30, said, "The laxity with which the state has proceeded in the present case speaks volumes of how state machinery is defending or protecting its own police officers."

The court added, "Normally, we are slow in entertaining petitions directly filed in this court but in the extraordinary circumstances of this case, we have entertained this petition to ensure that justice be given to the petitioner, which has been denied for about two decades."

Yashpal Singh, the deceased's father, said he was threatened by accused policemen to take back the case. "I have already fought over two dozen cases in the Supreme Court and the high court to get justice for my son and I will continue to do so," he said.