14 Rajasthan policemen charged in Dara Singh fake encounter case

NEW DELHI: The CBI on Friday named as accused 14 policemen, including two IPS officials, and two private individuals in the chargesheet filed in the Dara Singh fake encounter case.

The encounter, staged by the Rajasthan police's special operations group, took place in 2006, when leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Vasundhara Raje was the state chief minister and Taranagar MLA Rajendra Singh Rathore was a member of her council of ministers.

The chargesheet, filed in a special CBI court in Jaipur, said that the probe against Rathore was still going on.

The CBI has slapped charges of murder, criminal conspiracy and kidnapping, among others, on the accused in the case for killing Singh in a fake gun battle by a team of special operations group of Rajasthan police on October 2006.

"The name of a former minister of Rajasthan has been mentioned in the chargesheet but not as an accused. His role is still under investigation," CBI sources said.

In the chargesheet, the CBI has accused two IPS officers-additional Director General of Police AK Jain and Inspector General A Ponnuchami-besides additional Superintendent of Police Arsad Ali, inspectors Nisar Khan and Naresh Sharma, assistant sub-inspector Surendra Singh, sub-inspector Satyanarayan Godara and seven other policemen for the encounter.

The CBI has already arrested five policemen, including Ponnuchami, Khan, Sharma, Godara assistant sub-inspector Surendra Singh and a private person, while the remaining accused are absconding.

The police had claimed that Dara Singh was fleeing from its custody when he was shot.

Acting on a petition by his widow Sushila that her husband was killed in cold blood, the Supreme Court had ordered a CBI enquiry in the case.

Dara Singh's family members have pointed fingers at a senior state BJP leader claiming that he was targeted because of personal enmity. Dara Singh was facing several cases including that of smuggling and attempt to murder.