RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, July 27: The family members of Bakoria encounter victims today challenged the closure report of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filing a protest petition in the court of special CBI judge Praveen Oraon.
Jawahar Yadav, whose son Uday Yadav is one of the 13 victims, filed a protest petition while wives and brothers of 12 other victims supported him, producing themselves as witnesses in the case. Following this, the final report of CBI was accepted in the case and the path has been paved for hearing in the protest petition.
Advocate Pradeep Kumar, who filed the petition following instruction of a senior Jharkhand High Court advocate, Ashok Yadav, informed this saying the court will soon fix the date of examination of witnesses in the case.
“After the CBI filed closure report, notices were served to family members of the encounter victim. They responded to the court notice and turned up before the court with a protest petition,” Kumar said.
Those who were noticed in the court included Soni Kumari, (widow of victim Santosh Yadav), Kaushalya Devi, (widow of victim Dev Raj Yadav alias Dr R.K Ji), Reshma Khatoon (widow of victim driver Ezaz Ahmed), Akhilesh Yadav (brother of victim Yogesh Yadav), Promod Yadav (brother of victim Dev Raj Yadav), Santosh Yadav (brother of victim Neeraj Yadav), Dileshwar Yadav ( brother-in-law of victim Amlesh Yadav), Amit Tirkey( brother of victim Prakash Tirkey), Mahipal Oraon (brother of victim Budhram Oraon), Amarjit Singh (brother of victim Umesh Singh), Surendra Parahia (brother of victim Satyendra Parahia), Sandeep Singh Kherwar (brother of Mahendra Singh Kherwar) and Akhilesh Yadav (brother of victim Yugest Yadav).
The encounter had taken place on June 8, 2015 at Bhalwahi valley of Satbarwa block of Palamu. The security forces claimed to have killed 13 Maoists in an encounter. Describing the encounter as fake, Jawahar Yadav, father of para teacher Uday Yadav, had filed a PIL in the High Court.
The CBI has been probing the Bakoria encounter since December 2018 on the instructions of the High Court. In the last week of April last, the CBI had given a closure report in the entire case and supported the claim of security personnel of killing 13 Maoists in an encounter.
Filing a protest petition, Jawahar Yadav said that he was not satisfied with the CBI probe and demanded a re-investigation in the case. Though Yadav did not share a copy of the petition, he said the central probe agency did not perform its duty properly and supported the police theory.
Akhilesh Yadav (brother of victim Yugesh Yadav), who was first to reach the spot, supported Jawahar and told Lagatar24.com that “JJMP militants killed all and later the Jharkhand police and CRPF cooked the story of an encounter. Except Dr R.K. none of those killed were a Maoist. Police reached at the spot two hours after all 13 were kidnapped and killed by the JJ MP militants. Out of 13 killed, two were juveniles. The firearms which the police claim to have recovered from their possession were old and not in a running condition. Police changed the dress of some of the victims to present them as Maoists.”
“I provided all the necessary information to the CBI and suggested their officials check the credentials of those killed and ascertain the fact but apparently, they did nothing. They apparently failed to even find an eyewitness in the case which is a JJMP extremist,” he said, adding that “he will go to any extent to ensure justice for his brother.”
Sitheshwar Yadav, father of Soni Devi, echoed the same. “The fake encounter spoiled the life of my daughter. I will leave no stone unturned to ensure justice.”
