13 Russians killed, one missing as vehicle plunges into Bhagirathi

Dehradun - 13-member Russian group were killed and one went missing when a vehicle carrying them plunged into the Bhagirathi near Harsil in Uttarkashi district on Tuesday afternoon.

The other 10 members of the group and the driver have been admitted to a Dehardun hospital.

Superintendent of Police Jagat Ram Joshi said the search for the missing person was halted for the night and would resume on Wednesday. The high water level in the river was impeding the search.

He said the group was on its way from the Gangotri temple to Uttarkashi when the vehicle fell off the road, hit a tree and fell into the river.

“The road was in a good condition. It seems the driver was trying to overtake another vehicle when the accident occurred. There can be no other cause for the accident as the road had no turns and was in a good condition,” he said.

The police, the Army and the State Disaster Response Force carried out the rescue operations.

UTTARAKHAND FAKE ENCOUNTER

CBI sought death sentence for cops

Encounter Sight

New Delhi, June 9 - A CBI court sentenced 17 Uttarakhand policemen to life imprisonment for killing a 22-year-old MBA graduate in a fake encounter in Dehradun that rocked the hill state in 2009.

Special CBI Judge JPS Malik ruled that all of them were involved in the conspiracy to kill the youth, Ranbir Singh of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh on July 3, while seven of them were directly involved in the murder.
However, the Judge did not award them the maximum penalty of death sentence, observing that life imprisonment would meet the ends of justice in this case. The CBI had pleaded for the death penalty.

Of the 17 cops, six were sub-inspectors — Santosh Kumar Jaiswal, Gopal Dutt Bhatt (SHO), Rajesh Bisht, Neeraj Kumar, Nitin Chauhan and Chander Mohan Singh Rawat. All of them and constable Ajit Singh were convicted for the conspiracy and murder. The 10 policemen found guilty only for conspiracy include constables Satbir Singh, Sunil Saini, Chander Pal, Saurabh Nautiyal, Nagender Rathi, Vikas Chander Baluni, Sanjay Rawat and Manoj Kumar and drivers Mohan Singh Rana and Inderbhan Singh.

The court also slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on each of the seven policemen and Rs 20,000 each on the remaining 10 and directed the authorities to handover the amount of Rs 5.5 lakh to the youth’s family. The family members, who were present in the court, expressed disappointment over the verdict and said they would move the Delhi High Court, seeking the death penalty for the accused.

The victim’s mother, who was in tears, wanted nothing less than the death penalty to all 17 policemen responsible for her son’s death.

The family members of some of the convicted policemen were also seen weeping. The court had rejected the convict’s contention that Ranbir was riding a motorcycle along with two others and snatched their revolver after being stopped at a checkpost on Mohini Road as part of a security drill for the visit of the then President Pratibha Patil. The victim’s friends are facing trial in a separate case of robbery in Uttarakhand. The Supreme Court had shifted the trial in the fake encounter case to Delhi on a plea by the victim’s family.