Slain student's father slaps murder case against police

The father of the 24-year-old MBA student Ranvir Singh, who was allegedly killed by police in a staged shootout in the Uttarakhand capital Friday, has registered a case of murder against the police.

The case was lodged with the Raipur police station Tuesday after Ranvir Singh's father Ravindra Singh made a written complaint alleging "cold-blooded murder" of his son by the local policemen.

While he did not name any policeman, the FIR sought criminal action against "all the policemen who were responsible for Ranvir's killing in a broad-daylight encounter."

The FIR was lodged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against unnamed policemen.

Ravindra Singh has accused two deputy superintedents of police of intimidating him when he and Ranvir's other family members came from their home in Ghaziabad to Dehradun to take possession of Ranvir's body.

Earlier, the Raipur police had registered a case of attempt to murder against Ranvir and his two friends, who sped away on their bike after policemen fired indiscriminately at the trio for violating traffic laws. The police alleged that the three young men had even snatched the service revolver of a sub-inspector.

An ex-serviceman, Ravindra Singh had mobilised a lot of support of local people, both in Ghaziabad as well as Dehdarun where street protests led Uttarakhand's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to order a CID inquiry into the shooting.

However, unimpressed by the government's announcement, the family is demanding a CBI probe. Reiterating his demand, Ravindra Singh told mediapersons Tuesday: "We are not going to sit quiet until the state government hands over the case to CBI because we have no faith in the Uttarakhand police who had killed my innocent son in cold blood."

Autopsy report said Ranvir Singh suffered wounds from 10 bullet shots, eight of which went through him, and that all shots were fired at him from a close range.

Last updated on Jul 7^th, 2009 at 16:21 pm IST--IANS