Ranchi, Sept. 6: Jharkhand High Court today gave a clean chit to the police special task force led by senior superintendent of police M.S. Bhatia in the two-month-old bank robbery case encounter.

The high court dismissed the petition filed by Goraknath Ram, a brother of one of the slain dacoits, alleging that the killing was a fake encounter. The court had earlier directed the state government to file a counter affidavit and had asked the state to explain its stand in the matter.

The petitioner, whose brother, Daddan Kumar was shot in the shootout between the bank robbers and the police, had alleged that his brother was cornered and killed by the police officers in cold blood. Goraknath, a commercial tax officer had said that his brother was a student and preparing for various competitive examinations to secure a government job for himself.

The sensational shootout occurred on June 7 after armed dacoits looted Syndicate Bank in the heart of the city and walked away with Rs 1.53 crore. The bank heist, which was rated as the biggest ever loot in the history of Bihar and Jharkhand, had sent the police into a tizzy as they geared up to nab the culprits in the case.

Acting on a secret tip-off, the police surrounded a house in Deputy Para that was later identified as Goraknath Ram’s official residence.

Following warnings, the dacoits opened fire at the police team to which they retaliated. The police entered the house after an hour-long gunbattle. Three of the four dacoits were killed, while another sustained minor injuries. The looted money was also recovered from the house.

One of the deceased was identified to be Goraknath’s brother, whose body was returned after post-mortem. Goraknath preserved the body for sometime in his ancestral village and filed a case before the high court raising allegations against Bhatia and his team of officers.

The state government on behalf of the police officers said that there was direct evidence against the dacoits and they were killed in a real police encounter.