New Delhi, May 2 (IANS) The Supreme Court Monday dismissed an appeal by former Delhi assistant commissioner of police (ACP) S.S. Rathi and nine of his colleagues, undergoing life imprisonment for the killing of two people in a shootout in the capital’s Connaught Place commercial hub in 1997.
Two people, Jagjit Singh and Pradeep Goyal, were killed and another Tarunpreet Singh was injured in a shootout led by S.S. Rathi March 31, 1997.
Initially, police said that the deceased were dreaded criminals, a claim which was subsequently found to be false.
The apex court bench of Justice H.S. Bedi and Justice C.K. Prasad upheld the life term awarded to the 10 police personnel by the Delhi High Court.
Besides Rathi, other police officers whose life imprisonment has been confirmed are Mahavir Singh, Anil Kumar, Subhash Chand and six others.
The matter was initially investigated by Delhi Police, but later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The men were awarded life imprisonment by the special CBI court Oct 24, 2007.
Their sentencing and conviction was upheld by the Delhi High Court Sep 18, 2009, against which they appealed before the apex court.
On March 31, 1997, police received a tip-off that a dreaded criminal Mohd. Yaseen will be visiting a place near the Mother Dairy unit in Patparganj area of east Delhi in the afternoon. Inspector Anil Kumar was deputed to trail him.
Around the same time, Jagjit and Tarunpreet, who had come from Kurukshetra to meet Pradeep Goyal at his office in Patparganj, reached the area. Upon finding Goyal’s office closed, both of them decided to have lunch and then walked to the nearby park, where inspector Kumar was keeping a watch.
The police officer mistook them for Yaseen, and started following them.
Goyal reached his office around 1.30 p.m., after which the three drove went to Connaught Place as Goyal had some work at a bank there.
From the bank, the three were driving towards Barakhamba Road and halted at the red light, when Kumar, who was joined by ACP Rathi and his team, intercepted their blue Maruti Esteem car.
The police team then opened fire, killing Jagjit Singh and Pradeep Goyal and grievously injuring Tarunpreet Singh. Subsequently, police had claimed that the three were criminals and had opened fire at the police officers.
