Killing of DSP in Nuh in 2022: No police official was armed during raid on illegal mining, says Mittal Commission

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Chandigarh, December 19

Justice LN Mittal (retd) Commission of Inquiry has concluded that none of the police officials was armed during a raid on illegal mining in Nuh on July 19, 2022, when DSP Surender Singh Bishnoi was killed.

The report was tabled in the Vidhan Sabha today, along with the Action Taken Report of the government. The commission said ASI Sanjay Kumar, constable Amit Kumar, and Exemptee Head Constable (EHC) Umesh Kumar had accompanied the DSP on the raid. “It is also significant to notice that none of the police officials was having any weapon, arms or ammunition at that time, as stated by ASI Sanjay Kumar witness No. 1. Even the gunman Umesh Kumar, EHC, was not having any weapon, arms or ammunition because he was assigned the said duty on that very day only and before he could get any arms and ammunition issued, DSP asked him and others to accompany him,” said the report.

Even when the DSP was run over by the dumper, the police officials could not catch the dumper occupants or riders of the motorcycle (going ahead of the dumper) while they were speeding away, the commission said. “The police officials could not use their vehicle to chase them because the path was strewn with stones unloaded from the speeding dumper. Obviously, on foot, the police officials could not have chased and caught the speeding dumper and the motorcycle,” said the report.

On the allegations of Ashok Kumar, DSP’s brother, the commission concluded that there was no material on record “to even remotely suggest that there was any scuffle between the police party and the accused persons”.

The commission said when the DSP and others reached the spot, they spotted a dumper loaded with illegally mined stones. The police started chasing the dumper to stop it. However, the driver started unloading the stones on the kutcha path and the police vehicle had to be stopped.

The team then alighted from their vehicle and tried to stop the dumper. When it did not stop, they started retreating to save themselves. “Sanjay Kumar, ASI, Amit Kumar, constable, and Umesh Kumar, EHC, saved themselves by jumping aside. Sh. Surender Singh, DSP, also tried to save himself by jumping away, but the dumper driver, intentionally with high speed, hit the dumper into the DSP and ran over him, and thus murdered him,” concluded the commission.