Court orders probe into encounter death of murder suspect

Chief Judicial Magistrate Sushil Kumari on Thursday asked the Hazratganj police to lodge an FIR in the alleged encounter death of Girdhari Vishwakarma on February 15.Girdhari alias Kanhaiya alias Doctor was arrested for allegedly gunning down a gangster, Ajit Singh, in the citys posh Gomti Nagar area on January 6.

A court here has ordered a probe into the death of a 40-year-old murder suspect in an alleged gunfight with policemen while trying to escape from custody. Chief Judicial Magistrate Sushil Kumari on Thursday asked the Hazratganj police to lodge an FIR in the alleged encounter death of Girdhari Vishwakarma on February 15.

Girdhari alias Kanhaiya alias Doctor was arrested for allegedly gunning down a gangster, Ajit Singh, in the city's posh Gomti Nagar area on January 6. The court ordered the probe into the Girdhari's death on a plea by advocate Sarvjeet Yadav, who had earlier represented Girdhari as his defense counsel following his arrest.

''There are clear guidelines of the Supreme Court that in a case of a police encounter, an FIR should be registered and the entire incident be probed to find out the truth,'' the court had said while ordering the probe on the advocate's plea.

''It is a matter of investigation as to whether the police team caused the death of Girdhari in self-defense or the team exceeded its power of self-defense,'' the court said.

In her order, the CJM said though the police lodged two FIRs over Girdhari's bid to run away from police custody and opening of fire by him at the police, no FIR was registered to probe the incident of his death.

Earlier, in his application, advocate Yadav alleged that SHO Chandra Shekhar Singh and other policemen killed Girdhari and prepared false documents to suppress evidence in the case.

Girdhari was killed in an encounter with the police on February 15.

Following Girdhari's encounter death, Lucknow Police Commissioner D K Thakur had said three policemen too were injured in the incident.

Ajit Singh (39), a notorious criminal of Mau district having 17 cases against him, was killed in a shootout between rival factions in Gomti Nagar on January 6, police had said.