3 policemen awarded life term for killing college girl

A special CBI court today sentenced three retired police officers to life imprisonment, over 15 years after they shot dead a 20-year-old college girl in a fake encounter inside a forest in Dauarala area of Meerut.
Smita Bhaduri, a student of Meerut College, was shot dead while her friend Mohit Tyagi was injured in the fake encounter near Sivaya village of Meerut on January 14, 2000, public prosecutor Kuldeep Pushkar said.
Additional District Judge Navneet Kumar found retired deputy superintendent of police Arun Kaushik, constable Bhagwan Sahay and Surendera Kumar guilty of murder and other relevant sections of Indian Penal Code, the advocate said.

The CBI court had convicted the accused and had reserved its verdict for today, he said.
During the trial, CBI produced 21 witnesses including Mohit Tyagi who was an eye witness to the fake encounter and was injured during shoot out.
Defense counsels examined only two witnesses including one ballistic expert and a police constable.
The court also slapped a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh in total on each of the convicts.
The case was handed over to CBI after the National Human Rights Commission took suo-motu cognizance of the case.