As the controversy over the death of Ranbir Singh thickened, with the postmortem report suggesting torture, Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amit Sinha was sent to the Police Headquarters.

Assuring there would be no attempt to protect the guilty in the alleged encounter case, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank also ordered that the six other police officers, involved in the operation that led to the killing of 24-year-old Ghaziabad youth, be sent to the Police Lines.

They include Inspector Santosh Jaiswal, Inspector Rajesh Bisht, Sub Inspector (SI) GD Bhatt, SI Chander Mohan, SI Neeraj Yadav and SI Nitin Chauhan.

The postmortem analysis has reportedly suggested that the youth had been shot from close range. It indicated that there were 12 bullet marks on the body along with 28 injury marks suggesting that he might have been tortured.

The police, however, have refuted the claim that Singh was tortured or that the encounter was fake.

Before he was sent to the Police Headquarters, SSP Sinha told The Indian Express, “The postmortem report is being misinterpreted by a section of the media. There is nothing to suggest that the boy had been shot from a close range.”

He also said the blackened spots, being interpreted as bruises, are actually bullet wounds. The doctors who conducted the postmortem were not available for comment.

The state government had ordered a CID probe into the matter on Saturday evening following allegations by Singh’s family that the encounter was fake.

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