Victim’s family demands CBI probe

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Sirsa, January 19

The encounter in which the police had claimed to have killed dreaded criminal Mukesh Kumar at Khari Surera village of Sirsa on Sunday night has come under the scanner.

Members of the familyof Mukesh Kumar (25) of Nagrasri village in Nohar tehsil of Rajasthan, today claimed that the deceased was an innocent B Com(2nd year) student and was killed by the police after picking him from Rajasthan.

Speaking to mediapersons today, Mukesh’s uncle, Daulat Ram Sinwa, demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident and claimed that there was no criminal record of the youth in any police station across the country.

Mukesh’s brother Satbir has given a complaint in Ellenabad police station alleging that the police party “kidnapped” his brother from Rajasthan area and killed him after bringing to a house in Khari Surera village of Sirsa.

“The Haryana Police were roaming in the Rajasthan area on Sunday in view of the panchayat elections in nearby Ellenabad on Sunday. Somebody told me that the police had taken away Mukesh. When I called Mukesh on his phone, it was found switched off . We were later told that my brother has been killed in an encounter,” Satbir alleged.

Satbir has demanded action against the cops responsible for killing his brother.

Ellenabad SHO Vikas Kumar said an entry had been made in the daily-diary report (DDR) on Satbir’s complaint .

Sirsa SP Satender Kumar Gupta said the police was trying to ascertain the victim’s criminal record, if any.

However, the SP said the other six arrested after the encounter were all dreaded criminals with several cases against them in Haryana and Rajasthan.

Jeet Singh, an Inspector in Hisar IG’s special staff who led the encounter, denied all allegations levelled by Mukesh’s family. “We were in the Ellenabad area of Sirsa on the polling day . We were at Poharka village when we received a tipoff that Jaswant, a candidate for sarpanch at Khari Surera village, had called criminals for his elections,” Jeet Singh said.

“When we raided Jaswant’s brother Kuldeep’s house, the miscreants who were sitting outside opened fire at the police. A bullet hit our Tavera vehicle and another hit the bullet-proof vest of Sub-Inspector Mahinder Singh. Mukesh was killed when the police returned the fire ,” Jeet Singh claimed.

He said it was still to be ascertained whether Mukesh died of bullets fired by the police or by his own accomplices.