Ranbir Singh’s mother (second from left) at her home in Ghaziabad

July 4: The mother of the MBA graduate killed yesterday in an alleged encounter says the Dehra Dun police shot her son just to earn brownie points ahead of the President’s visit.

Ranbir Singh, 24, of Ghaziabad was shot hours before President Pratibha Patil’s visit to Dehra Dun.

“He was a studious boy who only wanted to fulfil his dreams. The police just want to win medals,” Ranbir’s mother Suresh said today from her home in Ghaziabad.

She said the Dehra Dun police had threatened her husband Ravindra Pal Singh, an ex-serviceman in his 70s, with “dire consequences” if he pressed on with the matter.

Ravindra had been baton-charged this morning after arriving in Dehra Dun with younger son Sandip and brother Narendra to receive Ranbir’s body.

The three family members said they had broken out in spontaneous protest at the morgue, drawing a small crowd, when police chased the three and beat them with lathis.

However, with the “encounter” killing becoming national news, Uttarakhand’s BJP chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal may meet Ravindra soon, a source said. The government has announced two probes.

The police say Ranbir had pulled out a gun during a vehicle check and later fired at personnel — a claim thrown into doubt by people who claim to be eyewitnesses.

“The police killed my son out of mere suspicion,” Ravindra wept. “He had passed his MBA from Meerut University this year. He has no criminal record. How does he become an outlaw hours after reaching Dehra Dun?”

Dr Umesh Kumar, one of Ranbir’s teachers in Meerut, said: “He had all the qualities to become a manager in a company. He came out with flying colours in his last exam.”

“We can only answer the questions after a probe. Till then we are sticking to our stand that Ranbir had come to create trouble,” Dehra Dun inspector-general of police N.A. Ganapati said.

Two years ago, 10 Delhi policemen, including an assistant commissioner, were jailed for life for gunning down two businessmen, Jagjit Singh and Pradeep Goyal, in Connaught Place in a fake encounter in March 1997. The police had chased their car, shot them and claimed to have killed a most-wanted gangster.

Eyewitnesses have also questioned a November 2002 “encounter” at Delhi’s Ansal Plaza where the police claimed to have killed two Pakistani terrorists.

Two years ago, the Gujarat government admitted before a court that its police killed alleged gangster Sohrabuddin in a fake encounter in 2005.