Caught In A Frame

IT was a chance shot. A photograph by an alert news photographer that finally nailed the Delhi Police team involved in the Connaught Place shootout on March 31, 1997. Mistaking him for the dreaded UP criminal Yaseen, the policemen killed Pradeep Goel and his associates Jagjit Singh and Tarun. Of the 15 policemen suspended after the incident 10, including Assistant Commissioner of Police S.S. Rathi, will be chargesheeted by the CBI for murder and attempt to murder under Section 302, 307 and 34 of the IPC.

The CBI has already sought Delhi Lieutenant Governor Tejender Khanna's permission to prosecute Rathi since he is a gazetted officer. According to sources, the involvement of five policemen in the team could not be established and they were let off. Constable Om Niwas and head constable Sri Kumar were unarmed at the time of the shooting and SI Abbas, ASI Shamsuddin and constable Bahadur Singh did not open fire. The case had been with the CBI for one-and-a-half months now. According to the agency, not only are the policemen guilty of killing two innocent citizens but they also planted evidence and fabricated a story to justify their killings. Evidence with the CBI virtually demolishes the 'we fired in selfdefence' argument of Rathi and his team.

According to the police account, the first shot was fired from inside the cobalt-blue Maruti Esteem in which the deceased were travelling. A 7.62 bore pistol was even shown as "recovered" from the car. According to CBI sources, Rathi told the investigating officer that when a cop from the police team went up to the stationary car to make enquiries, the driver rolled down the window and opened fire.

But a photograph shot within half-a-minute of the incident demolished the police testimony. A photographer from The Statesman who happened to reach the location took photographs that show the driver's window rolled up and intact. CBI investigators feel this photograph alone is enough to expose the police story. The photo will now be produced as evidence.

The report from ballistic experts too has confirmed that no bullets were fired from inside the car. Sources say the report has also confirmed that the two cops who received bullet injuries in the incident were actually hit by two of the 34 bullets which the police party pumped into the car.

The police foul-up occurred when Rathi and his team mistook a cobalt-blue Maruti Esteem car proceeding to the city from east Delhi as the one in which Yaseen was travelling. The police information was that the UP gangster was at the wheel. When the car reached the Connaught Place fire station, the police party surrounded it and opened fire. No attempt was made to effect an arrest or confirm the identity of the persons travelling in the car. Operation cover-up began the moment the police realised their irreversible blunder.

The shooting was no doubt a case of mistaken identity. But the unfortunate part is that the person responsible for the whole operation was no novice. In a career spanning over two decades, Rathi has won accolades for his investigation skills. He has received the President's police medal for gallantry in 1978 and the police medal for meritorious services in 1991. Rathi is also credited for smashing the notorious Sunil Tyagi gang of western UP. In 1982-83 when Rathi was posted in east Delhi, he nabbed dreaded criminals like Madan Bhaiya, Meera Thakur and Karamvir. For his services, the L-G of Delhi even gave him an out-of-turn promotion in 1983.

 "In five minutes 24 years of my career went down the drain. And that too because a minute miscalculation," Rathi told one his colleagues. According to people close the ACP, the police were monitoring Yaseen's cellular phone and keeping a track his movements. On the fateful day, Yaseen reportedly told one of his confidants he would meet him near Mother Dairy at Patpargang, east Delhi, in a cobalt-blue Maruti Esteem. But in a nasty twist, businessmen Goel, Tarun and Jagjit reached the spot minutes before Yaseen was to. 

The CBI investigation has exposed the high-handed manner in which the police team acted. The Connaught Place shooting was investigated because of the public outcry and because those killed were well-to-do citizens. But there are other staged encounters throughout the country which are not even seen as worthy of investigation.