PRAYAGRAJ The judicial commission constituted for inquiry into the deaths of Vijay Chaudhary and Arbaaz, both accused in the February 24 murders of lawyer Umesh Pal and his two police guards, in separate police encounters reached Prayagraj on Monday.
The members of the panel visited the spots in the Kaundhiara area of the trans-Yamuna region of the district and Nehru Park in the Dhumanganj locality of Sangam city where Vijay Chaudhary and Arbaaz were killed respectively in cross-firing with police teams. The commission members were accompanied by a forensic team.
Police officials ensured heavy security arrangements and barricading at the two spots and did not allow media persons near the encounter sites during the investigation. It is worth mentioning that a judicial commission was set up for inquiry into the deaths of mafioso-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed’s son Asad and shooter Ghulam in an encounter with U.P. STF in Jhansi on April 13.
The commission includes Allahabad High Court former chief justice Rajiv Lochan Mehrotra, and former DG Vijay Kumar. Besides the encounter in Jhansi, the commission will also carry out investigations into the deaths of Vijay Chaudhary and Arbaaz in the alleged encounter with police teams in Prayagraj. Arbaaz was killed in cross-firing with a police team at Nehru Park on February 27 while Vijay Chaudhary was killed in an alleged police encounter on March 6 near his village Bhamokhar under Kaundhiara police station of trans-Yamuna.
On Monday, the commission members visited the two spots with police commissioner Ramit Sharma, additional commissioner of police Akash Kulhari, and other senior police officials. Members of the panel will record statements of policemen present during the two encounters while eyewitnesses of the two cases will also be cross-examined.
While conducting the investigation near Bhamokhar village, commission members questioned the SHO of Kaundhiara police station, Virendra Kushwaha, SHO of Shankargarh police station, Manoj Kumar Singh, and SHO of Khiri police station Virendra Kumar who were in the police team which surrounded Vijay Chaudhary in the night on March 6.
Policemen said that they were searching for Vijay Chaudhary. They were accompanied by Vijay’s wife. Meanwhile, firing started on the police team resulting in injuries to constable Narendra Kumar. Subsequently, policemen also opened fire in retaliation resulting. Later, he was declared dead on arrival at the hospital.
The team then proceeded to Nehru Park under Dhumanganj police station where they questioned the SHO of Dhumanganj police station Rajesh Kumar Maurya and the Crime Branch team in connection with the death of Arbaaz who was killed in an encounter. Earlier on Saturday, the forensic team recreated the scene of the encounter at both places and recorded the distance between the killed persons and cops for collecting scientific evidence.