"Five policemen and three private individuals including a lady who was with gangster Sandeep Gadoli has been booked under section 302 (murder) of the IPC. Special Investigation Team of Mumbai police, after investigation, has found that it was a fake encounter," Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told a vacation bench of Justices P C Pant and D Y Chandrachud.
He said that the SIT has made all the eight persons, including five cops, accused and a magistrate has been informed about the change of section from 307 (attempt to murder) to section 302 (murder) of the IPC.
The apex court, which recorded the statement of Attorney General and posted the plea filed by Gadoli's relative seeking judicial inquiry into the killing for further hearing on July 13.
Rohatgi opposed the plea saying that autopsy has been done and the inquest proceedings had been completed by an Executive Magistrate.
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"The main prayer in the petition before the Bombay High Court was that it was a fake encounter and murder charges be slapped on police officials, who were involved in the fake encounter. Now all these have been done, so the petition has now become infructuous," Rohatgi said.
He said that the High Court has said that there cannot be two FIRs into the same incident and there cannot be a magisterial inquiry into it.
The counsel appearing for Gadoli's relative said the dead
body was lying in the mortuary for the past three months and they have not bee allowed to take the body as there was no magisterial inquiry.
Attorney General said that "since Gadoli was not in police custody nor killed in police custody, inquiry by judicial magistrate can't be conducted."
Earlier, Haryana police had told the apex court while challenging the decision of Bombay High Court, that the state officials were only discharging their official duties at the time of the incident and carried out a meticulous operation which lasted for almost 48 hours to nab a notorious gangster which can be verified and cannot be said to be a "fake encounter".
"Consequently, the direction for registration of FIR against the police officials of the petitioner state is not only demoralising but shocking for the entire police machinery of the state.