PIL seeking CBI probe into wanted Criminal's Encounter by UP Police in Supreme Court

A PIL has been filed before the Apex Court in connection with the encounter of wanted criminal Rakesh Pandey in Lucknow seeking an investigation by the CBI in the matter for fair, independent & impartial investigation.

The public interest litigation filed by Advocate Vishal Tiwari seeks a direction that the FIR should be registered for the offences under section 302 (Murder), 201 (Destruction of Evidence), 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy) & other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the police officials who conducted the encounter.

The petitioner also sought a direction, from the Supreme Court, to constitute a 3-member enquiry commission to enquire & investigate the case in which the members shall be the Ex-Judges of HC's & the commission shall be headed by the former Judges of the Top Court.

The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) gunned down Rakesh Pandey, an accused in the 2005 murder case of BJP leader Krishnanand Rai, in an encounter near Sarojini Nagar Police Station in Lucknow, said Inspector General of Police (STF) Amitabh Yash on Sunday.

A resident of UP's Mau district, Pandey alias Hanuman Pandey carried a bounty of Rs 1 lakh. He was a wanted criminal and accused of many heinous crimes.

Rai, who was murdered on Nov 29, 2005, along with 6 other persons, was a sitting MLA from the Mohammadabad constituency.

The investigation of the case was transferred from UP Police to the CBI. In 2013, the Apex Court transferred the case from Ghazipur to Delhi after Rai's wife Alka Rai filed a plea in the court.

In Oct 2019, Alka Rai had approached the High Court of Delhi challenging the acquittal of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari & others in the case.

The CBI court while acquitting all the accused observed that it was a gruesome case involving the murder of seven persons. The eyewitnesses & other material witnesses had turned hostile during the trial. 

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