Bihar cop gets death sentence for fake gunbattle

Patna, June 24 :

A Bihar Police officer was Tuesday sentenced to death for murdering three teenage students in a fake gunbattle 12 years ago in Patna, a lawyer said.

Shamse Alam was sentenced to death, while Constable Arun Kumar Singh and six others were given life imprisonment till death.

The fast-track court headed by Judge Ravi Shankar Sinha had reserved its judgment after completing the hearing last week.

According to the chargesheet, three students – Vikash Ranjan, Prashant Singh and Himanshu Shekhar – were killed in the fake shootout at a market near Ashiyana Nagar area on Dec 28, 2002 in Patna.

The six who were found guilty of attempt to murder were shopkeepers of Sammelan market. They had brutally beaten up the three students following a scuffle over paying a STD bill.

The shopkeepers then called the police and handed over the three students to them saying they were thieves and involved in crimes. The two policemen later shot the students and dubbed them as robbers in police records.

However, after a hue and cry by the opposition parties, the case was first handed over to the local police, then to the CID and subsequently to the Central Bureau of Investigation for investigation.

(IANS)