UP: Nine policemen convicted in Etah's fake encounter case of 2006

The fake encounter took place in the Sidhpura police station area of Uttar Pradesh. Carpenter Rajaram was killed in the alleged encounter. Before committing this offence, the accused police portrayed Rajaram as a dacoit.

Ghaziabad: A special CBI court in Ghaziabad on Tuesday convicted nine policemen including the then station house officer (SHO) in connection to a fake encounter case dating back to 2006 in Uttar Pradesh's Etah.

All the convicts including former SHO Pawan Singh, Pal Singh Thenwa, Rajendra Prasad, Sarnam Singh and Mohkam Singh were sentenced to life imprisonment. The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 33,000 fine on each one of them.

Whereas other accused Baldev Prasad, Sumer Singh, Ajay Kumar and Awadhesh Rawat were sentenced to five years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs11,000 each for deliberately destroying evidence under IPC Section 34.

Rajaram, a carpenter from a resident of Sunehra village, was killed in the alleged encounter on August 18, 2006. The accused policemen posted at Sidhpura police station had portrayed him as a dacoit and killed him in a fake encounter.

Rajaram's wife Santosh Kumari, later moved to Allahabad High Court and demanded an inquiry into the alleged encounter of her husband. On June 1, 2007, the High Court ordered a CBI inquiry into the matter. The CBI collected all the evidence and filed a charge sheet against all the accused policemen. (With Agency inputs)