The Uttar Pradesh government has filed a detailed status report in the Supreme Court regarding the killings, which took place during police encounters in the state.
UP Standing Counsel Ruchira Goel filed the status report in response to a Supreme Court directive issued on August 11, in the case of Vishal Tiwari vs Union of India.
The Apex Court had ordered the submission of an affidavit outlining the stage of investigation or trial in cases specified by the petitioner, and also to consider existing reports and recommendations regarding police encounters.
Advocate Vishal Tiwari had moved the Apex Court expressing concerns over the alleged police encounters leading to death of criminals in Uttar Pradesh.
He specifically mentioned encounters involving Prem Prakash Pandey & Atul Dubey, Amar Dubey, Prabhat Mishra & Praveen Dubey, Vikas Dubey, Asad, Atiq Ahmad, and his brother Ashraf.
The status report was endorsed by an affidavit filed by Amitabh Yash, ADG Special Task Force, UP Police.
The state government assured in its status report that each of the seven incidents highlighted by the petitioner had been thoroughly investigated in accordance with the directions and guidelines set forth by the Supreme Court in various decisions.
It claimed that no fault has been found on part of the police where investigations were complete.
On August 11, the Bench of Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice Aravind Kumar had passed the orders while hearing two petitions.
One was filed by Advocate Vishal Tiwari in the backdrop of killings of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf.
The second petition was filed by Atiq Ahmed’s sister Aisha Noori for a court-monitored probe into the killings of her brothers in April 2023 when they were being taken for medical check-up in police custody.
In its compliance report dated April 11, 2021, the Uttar Pradesh government submitted that the state had constituted a three-member Judicial Inquiry Commission headed by Justice (Retd) BS Chauhan to investigate the Bikru incident and the subsequent deaths of Vikas Dubey and some of his associates.
The report said it categorically found no fault with the actions of police in cases of deaths of the members of Vikas Dubey’s gang.
The evidence relating to the sequence of events which ultimately resulted in the death of accused Vikas Dubey did not raise any kind of suspicion or doubt about the genuineness of police version of events, it noted.
As per the report, the result of forensic examination report dated July 20, 2020 of firearms, cartridges, empty cartridge and clothes corroborates the police version. The Magisterial inquiry conducted by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Kanpur Nagar in view of the directions issued by the Apex Court stood concluded, taking the same view.
The government said it did not see any reason to differ from the same.
The State submitted that the Supreme Court had accepted the Inquiry Commission’s report in its order dated July 22, 2022, noting that the inquiry was conducted transparently and in the public domain.
The Bench ordered the report to be placed in relevant petitions, indicating no further orders were necessary.