Killed youth's family demands CBI probe, farmers plan protests (Lead)

Anger built up in the village of the management graduate who was allegedly killed by police in a staged shootout in the Uttarakhand capital, and farmers Sunday planned to take to the streets to air their protest against the state police.

The family of the youth, Ranvir Singh, who had come to Dehradun to take up an assignment with a financial firm, has alleged that he was gunned down by Dehradun police Friday in a staged shootout. The family has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into his killing.

"We will take our protests to the roads. This is an ugly act of the Uttarakhand police," said Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Mahendra Singh Tikait in Ranvir Singh's ancestral village near Baghpat town in western Uttar Pradesh .

"We are discussing the next strategy of agitation but it is very clear that the people of the region are not going to sit silent," Tikait added.

Ranvir Singh's mother Suresh Devi, referring to the autopsy report, said: "He was beaten by batons, his chin was fractured with a rifle butt, and in addition he had 10 bullet injuries."

Ajay Dhama, a resident of Ranvir's village, said: "Ranvir was a studious boy and he was not a criminal. The Dehradun police concocted a false story to justify the stage-managed encounter."

Eyewitnesses told mediapersons that they saw Ranvir and his two companions on a motorbike having a scuffle with policemen in a crowded locality.

According to the Uttarakhand police, Ranvir was shot after a scuffle when he allegedly snatched a police sub-inspector's revolver, following which the police took him as a criminal on the run.

The gathering in the village was participating in the village panchayat after the cremation Sunday.

The representatives of Dehradun Jat Mahasabha announced that the traffic in the state capital would be blocked.

Ranvir Singh's father Ravinder Pal Singh Sunday demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the incident.

Ravinder Pal Singh also lodged a complaint in Ghaziabad against Dehradun police. The complaint was forwarded to Dehradun senior superintendent of police, Ghaziabad police chief said.

Last updated on Jul 5^th, 2009 at 19:25 pm IST--IANS