The Uttar Pradesh police has been hunting for Sub-Inspector Devi Ram Gautam and three other cops, who have non-bailable warrants against them over the death of a two-year-old boy, for the past 11 years. Gautam was never traced.

Gautam is in-charge of the Siadangali police station in Jyotiba Phule Nagar district. In fact, in the past two years, he has headed several police stations in the district but the police “could not find him”.

In 1996, according to the prosecution, a police team led by Gautam raided the house of Jabar Singh at Bahadurpur village in Adampur in connection with a motorcycle theft case. The policemen tried to take Jabar Singh with them but his family resisted. The family members, including Jabar’s wife Sheela Singh, entered into a heated argument with the policemen. In the melee that ensued, Sheela Singh’s two-year-old son fell from her hands. The injured child was rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead. Irked, the residents protested and gheraoed the area.

Sheela requested the police to register a case against the cops who had raided their house. An FIR was later lodged against four cops including Gautam on July 23, 1996 at the Civil Lines police station in Moradabad. Jyotiba Phule Nagar was part of Moradabad at that time. It became a separate district on April 24, 1997.

The investigating officer failed to collect evidence against the cops and filed a chargesheet in the court on October 16, 1996. The complainant filed an objection on February 12, 1998.

... contd.