Even as Yogi Adityanath government is still counting criminals killed in police encounters in Uttar Pradesh, a former BJP Deputy Mayor of Lucknow and a party ex-corporator were among four who were convicted and sentenced life imprisonment by a Lucknow court in connection with a 24-year-old fake encounter case.
The Additional Sessions Judge Swapna Singh sentenced life imprisonment to former BJP deputy mayor Abhay Seth, then party corporator and General Secretary of Aliganj Traders’ Union Ashok Mishra and two constables R.C. Singh Chandel and Shvibhushan Tiwari.
Two other accused, then SHO Aliganj Police Station DDS Rathore and Constable Musnhsi Lal, had died during the trial.
On Februray 26, 1994, the Aliganj Police had claimed that it had gunned down a gangster Gopal Mishra in an encounter. But eye-witnesses and mother of the diseased had alleged that Mishra was shot dead in cold blood by the police. On the complaint of his mother, then Maywati government had ordered a CBCID probe on December 11, 1997 afterf registering a case against the police men and BJP leaders.
During the course of investigation, the CBCID found that Gopal was a construction business partner of Abhay and Ashok who developed a rift over a piece of commercial land to build a complex. On the day of incident, both Abhay and Ashok had accompanied a team of Aliganj police which dragged Gopal from the House of a relative at Chaudhary Tola and gunned him down before his mother.
Abhay Seth had shot into prominence for organizing rallies of former BJP Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Aliganj area since 1991 till he fought last Lok Sabha polls from Lucknow in 2004.
The CB-CID had filed a chargesheet in the fake encounter case on September 27, 2003 and the court framed charges against the accused in 2008. The investigating agency had produced as many as 13 eye-witnesses, including the mother.
The eye-witnesses went on record claiming that Gopal was killed in fake encounter by the Aliganj Police at the behest of the two BJP leaders who accompanied the raiding team. After the encounter, a country-made pistol, made available by the BJP leaders, was planted by the police on Gopal’s body to prove him a gangster.
