Vikas Dubey encounter: UP Police gets clean chit from 3-member enquiry commission

Article by Ritu

Uttar Pradesh Police have received a clean chit in the infamous Vikas Dubey encounter case. A three-member inquiry commission probing the encounter killings of the gangster and five of his alleged associates has cited lack of evidence as to the reason for the clean chit.

by the former Supreme Court judge BS Chauhan, the commission comprises former Allahabad High Court judge Sashi Kant Agrawal and former UP Director General of Police KL Gupta. The panel submitted its report to the state government on April 19, eight months after it was set up. 

"Yes, the commission has submitted its report to the state government on Monday. A copy of the report will be in the Supreme court also," Gupta told PTI. He, however, did not elaborate on the contents of the report.

Vikas Dubey was being brought back to UP in a police convoy when he was shot dead. According to the cops, the car in which Dubey was traveling flipped, and he allegedly snatched a policeman’s gun, tried to escape, and opened fire when they shot him dead.

The three-member inquiry panel said in its report that there is “no material evidence” to rebut the police version of the encounter but there is “sufficient material” to support it. The panel submitted the report to the UP government and the Supreme Court.

 Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Awanish Kumar Awasthi said, "I would not like to comment on it." As per Police report, Dubey tried to escape from the spot and snatched a gun from injured police personnel. An encounter broke out on the road in which he was killed. Soon after reports of his death emerged in the media, the opposition parties launched an attack on the UP government, stating it was revenge killed. Congress raised several questions over the case and had asked how only one car in the convoy overturned.

On July 22, the Supreme Court of India approved the constitution of an inquiry commission headed by Justice (Retd) BS Chauhan to probe into the genuineness of the encounter killing of Vikas Dubey. In August 2020, the Supreme Court had rejected a plea that had sought scrapping of the inquiry commission alleging relatives of Justice Chauhan are part of the Uttar Pradesh government; thus, he may give a biased report. While rejecting the plea, the court said that the petitioner based his plea on a news report and “There is no other material on record to confirm the truth or otherwise of the statement made in the newspaper.”