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7.Dinesh Kumar Yadav 8. Neeraj Yadav. It has been stated that the dead body of five unidentified persons were cremated after conducting photography and photographs were also published in the newspapers pursuant to which one person was identified as Budhram Oraon. The counter affidavit of the C.I.D. also reveals that a magisterial enquiry was conducted by the Additional Collector (Law and Order), Palamau wherein the statements of all concerned including the villagers were recorded and the inquiry ultimately came to a conclusion that there was an encounter between the Police and the naxals. Several criminal antecedents have also been referred to in the counter affidavit so far as the deceased Anurag Jee and Kamlesh Yadav are concerned. It has also been stated therein that the investigation was handed over to the C.I.D. vide memo no. 242 dated 31.07.2015 and the investigation was taken over by the C.I.D. on 5.1.2016. The counter affidavit further has tried to project a picture that the investigation into the offence is being appropriately pursued as it has been mentioned that after taking over the investigation the Investigating Officer of the C.I.D. had prepared a sketch map and had sent the towels seized from the seat of Scorpio vehicle bearing registration no. WB 60E-2011 to the State Forensic Science Laboratory, which had given its report.

The reply once again reiterates about the statements given by the Sub- Inspector of Police, Harish Pathak and the then D.I.G., Sri Hemant Toppo. It further points out the various discrepancies which have surfaced in the entire sequence of events leading to the occurrence and the perfunctory investigation having been conducted by the State Police as also by the C.I.D.

12. The petitioner has also filed another supplementary affidavit wherein it has been stated that the petitioner and his other family members have been approached and threatened with dire consequences if the present case is not withdrawn. Infact the matter had been referred to the A.D.G.P., C.I.D. on 6.12.2017 but no action has been taken by the department as yet. The supplementary affidavit also reveals about the contention of the petitioner regarding victimization of the persons who were expediting the investigation which includes Sub-Inspector, Harish Pathak who was transferred from Jamtara District to Jharkhand Police Academy, Hazaribagh and M.V. Rao, Additional Director General of Police, C.I.D. who was unceremoniously transferred within a few day of his joining in the C.I.D. to a place of posting in New Delhi. It has also been alleged in the supplementary affidavit that several other high ranking police officials who know the actual facts have also been transferred. The C.I.D. has also filed another counter affidavit trying to project a sequential development of the events which had taken place after the C.I.D. had taken over investigation from the District Police. It has been stated therein that Palamau is an extremely naxal infested district since long. The Intelligence Bureau, Government of India, the Special Branch of the State and other intelligence collecting units have always expressed a great concern over the area. It has been stated that the movement of the left wing extremists is regularly followed and in this perspective, an intelligence was generated by the I.B. about the movement of the dreaded naxal Anurag Jee and three others. The message was addressed to POLCENT, D.G.P., Jharkhand, A.D.G., Special Branch, Jharkhand and I.G., C.R.P.F., Eastern Sector, Jharkhand for necessary action. It has been submitted that again an intelligence generated by the I.B. was reproduced by the Commandant (Int), C.R.P.F., Eastern Sector about the movement of dreaded naxal Anurag Jee and two others. Subsequently, the I.B. had generated continuous intelligence regarding the movement of naxals and the same was forwarded to the appropriate authorities for taking necessary action. By referring to the various messages, the C.I.D. claims that there was a constant movement of the naxal commanders in the area bordering Palamau and Latehar districts. The counter affidavit reveals that in view of the intelligence, which has been gathered, an operational plan was made consisting of two assault groups comprising of Cobra personnel and personnel from Special Action Team. The operational team of Cobra had moved from Khunti to Latehar which was followed by the SAT team, which reached Latehar on 8.6.2015 at about 11.00 hours. The technical intelligence gathered from the tower locations of the mobile phones of 14 dreaded naxals also proved their movement in the same area. The officer incharge of Satbarwa O.P. got an information about the discreet movement of the naxals on Latehar- Palamau State highway from S.P., Palamau and was directed to participate in the operation led by Cobra Battalion. The officer in charge, Satbarwa O.P. in terms of the direction of the S.P., Palamau recorded the same in the station diary and moved to the place of action with his 13 officers. The counter affidavit goes on to repeat that the district team started checking the vehicles and the Cobra team led an ambush in the probable route of retreat. It has been stated that after sometime a white coloured Scorpio vehicle disregarding the orders of the police officers sped away towards Palamau which made the police personnel alert and suspicious. Soon thereafter, the Scorpio vehicle, which was going to Palamau diverted its route to the eastern unmettled road. On seeing the police personnel and the members of Cobra Battalion, who had positioned themselves strategically in the route of retreat challenged the vehicle to stop. However, instead of stopping the vehicle, the extremists who were inside the vehicle started firing which continued for about an hour. The Cobra force also replied by counter firing and after the firing stopped, a search was made in which 12 dead bodies were found in scattered position along with several rifles/carbines, 188 rounds live cartridges, 117 rounds of empty cartridges and large quantity of logistics. The present counter affidavit further reveals that swabs of deceased extremists were collected and the inquest was also conducted by the Executive Magistrate. A postmortem was done by the Medical Officer and the same was video graphed. A team from the National Human Rights Commission had visited the place of occurrence and after conducting a confidential enquiry had directed that an S.P. ranked officer should investigate the case which would be supervised by an I.G. ranked officer. The counter affidavit also gives details about the test carried out by the Forensic Science Laboratory. It also states that several witnesses were examined including police personnels, witnesses from bereaved families and independent witnesses. The counter affidavit details the large number of cases pending against the decased-Anurag Jee. It also points to a purported press release issued by the Bihar, Jharkhand, North Chhatisgarh Special Area Committee, Vigilance and Regional and Zonal Committee by stating that the son of the petitioner namely Uday Yadav was a traitor. It also declared that all the deceased except the driver were members of the PLGA (Peoples Liberation Guerilla Army).

15. Mr. Rajiv Ranjan, learned senior counsel appearing for the respondents-State, has vehemently submitted that nothing of substance has been indicated by the petitioner, which would necessitate the investigation to be carried out by the premier investigating agency of the country. He has stated that investigation had been handed over to the CID, which has taken appropriate steps by examining the independent witnesses apart from the police officials including C.R.P.F. personnel involved in the encounter and the investigation so far unerringly points to an encounter having taken place at village Bakhuria between the extremists and the police and C.R.P.F. personnel which led to the death of 12 persons including the dreaded extremist in the name of Anurag Jee. Learned senior counsel submits that the case made out by the petitioner does not merit consideration as it only concentrates itself on a supposedly encounter having taken place between JJMP extremists and the deceased extremists. Learned senior counsel submits that no aspersion has been cast upon the police force. He has also referred to the inputs of the Intelligence Bureau dated 25.5.2015, in which intelligence was gathered that the dreaded naxal Anurag Jee was moving around and the same was communicated to the Cobra battalion. Learned senior counsel has also referred to the intelligence reports dated 27.5.2015 and 3.6.2015. He has stated that on 7.6.2015, two assault groups were constituted of Cobra Battalion and SAP. Learned senior counsel has projected the planning and execution of encounter by referring to GPS location of Cobra battalion as well as the tower location of three naxals who were moving around the area near Bakhuria village where the encounter had ultimately taken place. He has stated that the bodies were recovered in a scattered position but thereafter they were kept in a straight line as such it cannot be construed that the encounter had taken place elsewhere and the bodies were kept in a straight line at some other place. Learned senior counsel further submits that 188 rounds of firing was done by Cobra Battalion and the videography of the postmortem was also prepared and preserved which would indicate that there was no suppression of the actual facts as alleged by the petitioner. Learned senior counsel also submits that initially the investigation was conducted by the police but on 31.07.2016, case was handed over to the CID. While referring to the postmortem, it has been stated that no charring injuries were found which would rule out the possibility of firing from a close range. He further submits that swabs were taken from both the right and left hand and the findings were given by the State Forensic Science Laboratory on the basis of chemical analysis. He has also stated that the statements of 48 personnel have been recorded and the instructions which were given by the erstwhile ADGP(CID) on 21.9.2016 are also being scrupulously followed. Referring to the CD which contains the statement of one Gopal Singh, Mr. Rajiv Ranjan, learned senior counsel, submits that the same has been given in captivity under duress and therefore no meaningful association can be made with the said CD Learned senior counsel adds that more than 90 persons have been examined by the CID and the investigation is going on a right direction and on such consideration, CID be allowed to continue with the investigation, more so in view of the fact that it is not an exceptional circumstance to handover the investigation to the CBI.

16. Upon consideration of the submissions advanced by the learned senior counsel for the respective sides, the case diary, which has been produced by the State, has been perused. The case diary, which has been perused is of the police which contains the self-statement of Md. Rustom, the informant of Sadar (Satwarwa) P.S. Case No.349 of 2015. Paragraph 5 contains the description of place of occurrence, which is at village-Bakhuria under Satwarba O.P. towards the metalled road to Latehar in N.H. 75 and an unmettaled road from Bhaluahi more which goes towards Bhaluahi village. The re-statement of the informant has been recorded at paragraph 7 and the statement of C.R.P.F personnel namely Nitin Kumar Irla, Vishwadeep Kapil, Rajendra Singh and Devi Lal, have been recorded at paragraphs 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the case diary. Inquest report of all the 12 persons killed in the encounter finds place at paragraph 17 of the case diary. Most of the other paragraphs are replete with the statement of the police personnel of Satwarba O.P., the personnel of Cobra battalions and the witnesses to the seizure list. Md. Shamsuddin Ansari is an independent witness, whose statement has been recorded in paragraph 32 of the case diary and who has disclosed that on 8.6.2015 he was sleeping outside his house due to heat and at about 12.15 A.M. he had heard the sound of firing. Since the area in question is naxal infested, he locked himself inside the house due to fear and in the morning when he went near the crusher machine of Jumrati Mian he had seen a crowd having gathered and 10-12 bodies of extremists were found lying. He has further stated that he had come to know that on account of an encounter between the police personnel and the extremists, several extremists including Anurag Yadav were killed. Same fact has been disclosed by some of the independent witnesses namely Ram Prasad Ram, Jafruddin Ansari, Nand Kishore Ram and Fazal Karim. The postmortem report is mentioned at paragraph 234 onwards and the report of the State Forensic Science Laboratory finds place at paragraph 244 which reveals that the fire arms, which were recovered included automatic regular Insas rifle, semi automatic regular, U.S. spring field rifle, semi automatic regular U.S. Carbine and single sheet bolt action regular rifle, which were subjected to chemical analysis and it was opined "sign of previous firing from the said rifles before sending it to the laboratory". The report further reveals that chemical analysis was also done of the swabs(hand wash) collected from the left hand and right hand of the deceased persons which were marked ½ and 1/R up to 12/2 and 12/R. It was concluded with respect to three deceased that firing was conducted through left hand and so far as the rest are concerned, the data obtained was not sufficient for any conclusive opinion.