It began as a usual encounter story. “Two hardened criminals Zulfikar and Nazakat, residents of Hawalpur in Ghaziabad, were killed in an encounter at Timarpur on July 31; two country-made firearms and a stolen vehicle were recovered from their possession.”

Later, after the relatives and neighbours protested, Delhi Police found that the encounter was fake and it was done to avenge the death of a policeman’s brother. Nine policemen were dismissed.

Now, the chargesheet in the case filed by the Crime Branch reveals it was a contract killing executed by policemen. The chargesheet says the Delhi Police team involved in the encounter struck a Rs 2-lakh deal to eliminate the two, and the assistant sub-inspector who headed it had promised out-of-turn promotions to his subordinates for the killings.

Assistant sub-inspector Pramod Kumar Tyagi and constables Ashok Kumar, Surajpal, and Sudesh Rana were part of the team. Nazakat (22) and Zulfikar (26) were accused in the murder of constable Ashok Kumar’s brother, Digambar, in 2003.

The Crime Branch, probing the case, has found that Ashok Kumar struck a deal of Rs 2 lakh with his colleagues ASI Tyagi, constable Surajpal and constable Sudesh Rana. “Tyagi also promised his subordinates out-of-turn promotion for carrying out the encounter,” the chargesheet says. ASI Tyagi himself had got two out-of-turn promotions for encounters.

Nine policemen were booked in the case, seven are already behind the bars, Tyagi and Rana are absconding. The other accused are head constable Yashpal and constables Pardip Singh, Ravinder Kumar, Satish Kumar, Naresh Kumar, Ashok, and Surajpal.

... contd.