Acquitted after 20 yrs, cops still say he’s a criminal

But he was an undertrial — fighting to prove his innocence in 67 cases the police had slapped on him. Acquitted in the very last one on Tuesday, he was discharged.

Of the cases, three were under the Gangster Act, over ten pertained to firing on the police. Then there were cases under the NDPS Act, Arms Act — all because of “political vendetta”, said Singh.

The police maintain that he is indeed a criminal, but are not sure of the total number of cases against him. Their records mention 49 — 41 lodged at the Banthara police station and eight at the Sarojini Nagar police station.

“Shera had been in jail for a long time, we have to verify old records,” said Sadhu Ram, SHO of Sarojini Nagar police station. Asked how a criminal can manage to get an acquittal in so many cases, Senior Superintendent of Police, Lucknow, Akhil Kumar, said he did not have the details of Singh’s cases as were “lodged several years ago”.

The details of the case in which Singh was acquitted by a fast track court on Tuesday are interesting.

The case was registered in 1995 after Singh allegedly fired at the staff of a petrol pump at Anari, when they asked him to pay after his petrol tank was filled. When the police were called in and tried to intervene, he was said to have fired at them too.

Singh’s counsel pointed out in court that there was no statement of the petrol pump staff on record, nor was there a eyewitness account of policeman that said Singh fired at them. Last but not the least, no one was injured.

Singh, now 48, accuses the police of ruining his life. “It has been proved that I am innocent. By putting me behind the bars for 20 years, the police ruined my life and my family business,” he said.

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