The Supreme Court on Wednesday approved the appointment of three-member commission, headed by Justice B.S. Chauhan for investigating the killing of eight policemen and the subsequent encounter of gangster Vikas Dubey and five of his associates.
The three-member commission also includes former Allahabad High Court judge Justice S.K. Agarwal and former Director General of Police K.L. Gupta.
Seeking a report from the commission within two months, the top court emphasised: “Why Dubey was out on bail or parole despite so many criminal cases against him, is the single-most important factor of the entire matter.”
The apex court also directed the UP government not to resort to any further encounters to eliminate dreaded gangsters in the state.
Representing the UP government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the top court that former SC Judge (Retd.) B.S. Chauhan had agreed to head the inquiry committee when he was approached. The Uttar Pradesh government also chose the other two members of the commission. About monitoring the case, the CJI clarified that the apex court will not monitor the investigations into Dubey’s encounter.
“Just because it has received so much publicity, we can’t start monitoring criminal investigations,” observed the CJI. Earlier, the SC had directed the UP government to reconstitute the present committee formed to probe Vikas Dubey encounter, which is headed by a retired HC judge. The top court has heard a batch of petitions questioning the encounter killing of Vikas Dubey and his close aides by Uttar Pradesh Police after eight of their colleagues were killed by the gangsters on 3 July.
The first petition was filed by a Maharashtra-based lawyer Ghanshyam Upadhyay, hours before Dubey was shot dead on 10 July. UP Police had claimed that Dubey tried to jump custody after a vehicle in the convoy bringing him to Kanpur turned turtle.