Ranchi: ADG (OSD, Delhi) M.V. Rao has alleged that the state director-general of police had advised him to go slow on a probe into a controversial police encounter in which 12 people were gunned down in 2015, and that his subsequent transfer from the CID within a mon-th was with malafide intent.
Rao's allegations against DGP D.K. Pandey were recorded on January 2 in his letter to the state home secretary, the Union ministry of home affairs, with copies to the offices of the chief minister and governor of Jharkhand. The state home department has now forwarded a copy of the letter to the DGP's office to seek his views.
"I have just stated facts of the case and I hope corrective measures will be taken soon," Rao told The Telegraph on Saturday, but refused to comment any further.
Jharkhand High Court, which is also looking into the 2015 Bakoria encounter at Satbarwa in Palamau district that led to the deaths of 12 people, is scheduled to hear the case again on Jaunary 18.
This is the second instance in recent past of a serving senior officer being hauled up by the state government, the first being the showcause notice to chief secretary Rajbala Verma in connection with the ongoing probe into the Rs 950 crore fodder scam, providing fresh impetus to Opposition parties that have promised to raise these issues in the budget session of the Assembly beginning next week.
In his letter, a copy of which is with The Telegraph, Rao has alleged he was transferred as ADG (CID) to Delhi as officer on special duty (OSD) within a month of taking charge on November 13, 2017.
"There appears to be a conspiracy to cover-up a big crime and to shield the culprits. My transfer within a month of posting as ADG (CID) was done with malafide intention of scuttling impartial probe of this case," his letter reads.
When The Telegraph contacted home secretary S.K.G. Rahate, he said he was at a mee-ting and, hence, could not talk.
DGP Pandey, who is scheduled to retire in May next year, did not answer his phone.
On June 8, 2015, four months after Pandey was appointed DGP, 12 people whom police claimed were members of the CPI(Maoist), were gunned down in an encounter steered by a team comprising district police and the CRPF's CoBRA battalion.
Police registered a case (349/15) after families of the victims alleged that 11 of those killed had no Naxalaite links and that they were murdered along with an armed cadre of JJMP, another rebel outfit.
The case was transferred to CID for a probe but investigations made no progress, prompting the National Human Rights Commission to intervene. In 2016, one Jawahar Yadav filed a writ petition before Jharkhand High Court, which on November 24, 2017, directed CID to submit the case diary and ballistics report along with statements of police officers involved in the encounter.
The court will hear the case on January 18.
Last year on November 13, Rao, who had by then taken charge as ADG (CID), started a probe. He recorded the statement of the Satbawra police station OC Harish Pathak, then DIG of Palamau range Hemant Toppo. Initial inquiries by Rao seemed to corroborate the allegations that it was fake encounter.
An ADG rank officer said the DGP would ideally wait till the case was heard by the high court on January 18.
"If the court expresses satisfaction over the CID probe and views that the investigation is on the right path then the allegations mentioned in letter will have no bearing," he said.
Senior high court lawyer Rajiv Kumar, who is representing the petitioner, said the court was also expected to take up Rao's transfer. "His transfer amounts to obstruction of the criminal justice administration and DGP is liable to be prosecuted," he said.
