UP: 12 cops booked over 'fake' encounter, 'torture' of B.Tech student

Noida (UP): An FIR has been registered against 12 personnel of the Jewar police station in Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Buddh Nagar district for the alleged illegal detention and torture of a B.Tech student from Mathura following a “fake” encounter in 2022, officials said on Wednesday.

Former station house officer (SHO) Anjani Kumar, sub-inspectors Rakesh Babu, Aniruddh Yadav, Sharad Yadav, Chandveer Singh, Sunny Kumar and Neelkant Singh and constables Sohit Kumar, Bhuri Singh, Jai Prakash, Naus Kumar and Chhiitar Singh have been named as the accused in the FIR filed on Tuesday following a court order passed in February, they added.

Mathura resident Tarun Gautam has alleged in the court that police threatened his family and framed his son, a B.Tech student, in false cases under the Gangsters Act, and Arms Act. The complainant has also accused the police personnel of subjecting his son to electric shocks in custody and demanding money from him.

The case has been registered under Indian Penal Code sections 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 395 (dacoity), 342 (wrongful confinement), 307 (attempted murder), besides other penal provisions, at the Jewar police station.

“On September 4, 2022, about 10-12 police personnel in plain clothes came in two cars without number plates, entered my house and asked for my son, Somesh. I told them that he is pursuing B.Tech from Kota (in Rajasthan) and currently staying in Delhi and taking coaching classes.

“They beat us up, ransacked the house and took me to Somesh’s Delhi residence. They caught hold of Somesh, beat him up, forced him into an SUV and took us to the Jewar police station. The incident was captured on CCTV cameras,” the complainant has alleged in the FIR.

He has also alleged that electric shocks were administered to his son in custody and police even threatened to kill him.

According to the FIR, on September 6, Somesh was taken to a remote place and shot in the leg. The accused police personnel also allegedly threatened the complainant to remain silent and said or else, they would kill his son.

“My son was falsely implicated in a case of a motorcycle stolen from Faridabad. Another fake Arms Act case was registered against him at the Jewar police station. He was also shown as an accused in a murder case and in another case under the Gangsters Act,” the complainant has mentioned in the FIR.

He has added that the stolen motorcycle was recovered from another accused, B K, against whom a chargsheet was filed in a Jewar court.

The complainant has accused former SHO Anjani Kumar of demanding Rs 1 lakh from him, which he said he paid with the help of his brother.

“As my son got bail in all the cases, he underwent treatment at the Safdarjung Hospital (in Delhi) as he was unable to move his leg because of the bullet injury,” the complainant has said in the FIR.

He has added that he tried to get a complaint lodged at the Jewar police station and approached higher authorities in June 2024, but in vain. Subsequently, he moved the court.

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has also posted on X about the FIR against the police personnel.