ARSHAD ALI; NARESH SHARMA Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Both the bail applications have been filed u/S.439 of the Code by the accused petitioners who are police officers and who have been chargesheeted for the offence punishable u/Ss.120B r/w 302, 364, 346, 201 & 218 I.P.C. seeking post arrest bail pending trial and the case of the prosecution is that the deceased Dara Singh was killed on 23rd October, 2006 in a fake encounter by police officials of Special Operation Group (SOG) of which both the accused petitioners were active members.

(2.) The accused petitioner Arshad Ali (A-13) at the relevant time was posted as Addl.S.P., SOG and accused petitioner Naresh Sharma (A-5) as Sub-Inspector of Police in SOG. The bail applications of both the petitioners were rejected by the ld.Sessions Judge, Jaipur District, Jaipur assigning detailed reasons vide orders dt.19th November, 2011 and 9th January, 2012 respectively.

(3.) The case of the prosecution, as alleged, is that Dara Singh was killed in a fake encounter at the behest of Team of SOG, Rajasthan Police, Jaipur on 23rd October, 2006 and the case initially projected was that at 1:00 AM in the mid-night of 23rd October, 2006, the petitioner Arshad Ali, Addl.S.P. (A-13) received source information that Dara Singh along with his gang members duly armed with sophisticated weapons had come to Jaipur City to commit a serious offence and would leave for Ajmer before the sunrise, in response to which, the accused petitioner Arshad Ali, headed the SOG Team along with other co-accused consisting of eleven members in which the accused petitioner Naresh Sharma was also one of the member equipped with arms and ammunitions left SOG Police Station in a jeep at 2:30 AM in the night of 23rd October, 2006 and placed Nakabandi at 4:00 AM on Ajmer Road, near flyover of Kamla Nehru Nagar and started checking the vehicles, during which at 5:20 AM when Rajasthan Roadways bus going towards Udaipur from Jaipur on being checked two suspect passengers sitting on seat Nos.10 & 11 were asked to step down from the bus but sooner they alighted from the bus and opened firing at the SOG team while running away, to which the SOG team chased them by jeep as well as on foot for about 3 Kms and during cross firing, Dara Singh died in Rajendra Nagar Area, Police Station Mansarovar, Jaipur (which according to the complainant, wife of Dara Singh, was a fake encounter engineered at the behest of SOG team to which both the accused petitioners were members) while the other ran away and the information of the occurrence was given to the Police Control Room, Jaipur. On this information of Rajesh Choudhary (A-1), Inspector of Police, FIR No.396/2006 came to be registered at Police Station, Mansarovar, Jaipur for offence u/Ss.307, 332 & 353 I.P.C. & 3/25 of Arms Act and the investigation team prepared the site plan, examined the vehicle and took sample of blood soil and seized the shawl and other belongings to the deceased Dara Singh and his purse having bus ticket No.3309683 dt.23rd October, 2006 in the presence of independent witnesses and post mortem was conducted on the autopsy of deceased Dara Singh.