Kanpur, June 20: Ram Vilas Singh Yadav is a policeman who finds himself on the wrong side of a fake encounter.

The constable posted at Koria Chowki under Bidhnoo police station in Kanpur has been fighting for justice for his brother Sugreev, 26, who was killed in a fake encounter by the Special Operations Group of the Faizabad police last year.

Ten months after the murder, Yadav has reasons to believe his fight has been successful. On Wednesday, the District Court in Kanpur turned down the appeal of seven policemen against a lower court judgment that ordered registration of a case of murder against them.

Though the lower court order came early this month, the police did not register a case against the policemen involved—Sub-Inspector Vikram Singh, Constables Sanjay Diwedi, Jagdamba Pandey, Anil, Manish, Vijay and Prakash. Nor did they suspend the accused.

Now, IG, Lucknow Zone, AK Jain says a case will be registered and investigation started soon.

Ever since Sugreev was killed on August 6, 2007, Yadav has been waging a lone battle against his own department. “On August 24, 2007, I wrote to NHRC, Principal Secretary, Home, and Home Secretary, appealing for justice to my brother, but there was no response,” he said. It was then that Yadav approached the court.

Sugreev had gone to Achaura village in Faizabad to meet his friend Pankaj Kumar Singh on August 5. The family lived in Farrukhabad, close to Faizabad. “The next day, when Sugreev and Pankaj were on their way to Ranapur, the SOG team stopped them and started questioning them. They also called up a relative to make inquiries about him,” said Yadav.

The next day, Yadav got to know from newspapers that Sugreev had been killed in an encounter.

The FIR filed by SOG in-charge Vikram Singh said that after “committing a loot” on August 6, Sugreev and his two accomplices were trying to escape when they were spotted by the SOG team around 8:35 pm. Near Halkarapurva area, their motorcycle slipped and the three fell down, said the FIR. They opened fire on the SOG team, says the FIR. It also said that while Sugreev was killed, the two others managed to escape.

The actual story, said Yadav, was that his brother was rounded up from Faizabad by an SOG team long before the so-called encounter. There were several people who can prove this, he said. “Possibilities are that Sugreev died when the police were thrashing him, and with the fear of getting exposed, the SOG team transformed it into an encounter,” he said.

Yadav said that neither the number of the vehicle allegedly used by Sugreev nor its chassis number was mentioned in the report. “If a person is shot dead, there has to be blood on the shirt and the ground, but not a single drop of blood was found on the spot of the encounter,” he said.

He said the police tried to prove Sugreev was a criminal. “Facts were manufactured, key persons related to the case were harassed and incorrect information was furnished in the FIR”.

“It was said that Sugreev had 42 cases against him, but he had only nine cases and most of these cases were initially against unnamed persons and later my brother’s name was included,” he said. The police said he was wanted in three cases of murder, but the fact was that he was only named in a murder case.

Many in Yadav’s extended family are in the police. His cousin Jhabbu Singh is a constable in Lalitpur, and his uncle Visheshwar Singh Yadav recently retired as constable from Bareilley. “If such treatment is given to us, one can well understand the situation of a common man,” he added.

Yadav does not want his colleagues to investigate the case. “Either CBCID should probe it or a judicial inquiry should be conducted,” he said.