LUCKNOW/JHANSI: On the orders of a local court, police have registered a case of murder, among other offences, in connection with the alleged fake encounter of wanted gangster Bhalchandra Yadav who was shot dead on March 31, 2021.
Bhalchandra was carrying a reward of Rs 25,000 for any information leading to his arrest when he was gunned down. Thereafter the family members of Bhalchandra moved a local court claiming that he was shot dead in cold blood in a staged encounter. Ankit Mittal, the then Chitrakoot superintendent of police, is currently posted as commandant of PAC 8th Battalion in Bareilly.
Those named in the FIR include Ankit Mittal, sub-inspectors Amit Kumar, Santosh Kumar Singh, Shrawan Kumar Singh and Anil Kumar Sahu; head constables Raees Khan, Umashankar Singh; constables Bhupendra Singh, Shivananda Shukla, Dharmendra Verma, Rahul Yadav, Deendayal Singh, Ramkesh Kushwaha and Ramesh Chandra. They have all been booked under the charges of sections 302 (murder), 396 (dacoity), 364 (kidnapping), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and other sections of IPC. The FIR has been registered at Bahilpurwa police station.
The FIR has been lodged by Nathuniya, wife of Bhalchandra Yadav. She lives in Parwaniya village falling under Nayagaon police station in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh.
In the FIR, she has alleged that her husband Bhalchandra Yadav had gone to Satna district court in connection with a theft case along with his brother Lalchandra on March 31, 2021.
On their return, they were intercepted near the Kothi area and overpowered by district police of Chitrakoot and STF personnel who were in plainclothes, she claimed in the FIR.
“Bhalchandra was brought to Bahilpurwa police station and later on killed in a fake encounter near Madou dam while his brother was taken to Mankhurd police station and booked under a false case under Arms Act and sent to jail,” she stated in the FIR.
The following day, the doctor insisted on an X-ray before performing the post-mortem as the body had multiple injuries along with fractures, she said.
Rajendra Yadav, lawyer of Nathuniya, said that the post-mortem conducted on Bhalchandra mentioned eighteen bruise marks on his body as his client was subjected to brutal torture before being shot dead. Even his nails had been pulled out. Yadav further alleged that the STF ensured a quick cremation and did not allow for a second post-mortem.
“There was a lot of media hue and cry but nothing much materialized and finally I filed a case in the court after which the court ordered filing an FIR against all the police officials on October 10, 2021 itself, but it took another ten months for the police to file the FIR,” said Yadav while talking to TOI.
He also alleged that the present SO Bahilpurwa police station, Indrajeet Gautam, has been appointed as the investigating officer of the case. “How do you expect him to investigate his seniors, including an IPS officer, who are still on duty? I recommend a CB-CID inquiry into it,” said the advocate.
According to police records, Bhalchandra was named in 20 cases of loot, dacoity, extortion and was an active member of dacoit Gauri Yadav who carried Rs 5.5 lakh reward on his head and was killed in a police encounter in October 2021.
