Varanasi: Almost 22 years after he allegedly killed a theft accused inside a police lock-up in front of his son, the then in-charge of Rani Ki Sarai police station, who is now in his 70s, has been awarded life imprisonment by an Azamgarh court. Azamgarh district govt counsel Priyadarshi Piyush Tripathi said that district and sessions court judge Jai Prakash Pandey sentenced former cop JK Singh to life imprisonment with a Rs 1 lakh fine on Wednesday. The ex-cop who retired over a decade ago will also face one year of rigorous imprisonment and a Rs 5,000 fine for abusing under section 504 (breach of peace) IPC.
Soon after the verdict, Singh was arrested and sent to jail. The other accused, head constable Narendra Bahadur Singh, died during the course of hearing in 2017. On March 29, 2003, Rani Ki Sarai police arrested FCI employee Harilal Yadav on charges of theft. He died due to a gunshot wound in the lock-up. Initially, in this case of custodial death, the police registered an FIR against head constable Narendra Bahadur Singh. Later, Harilal’s son Jitendra filed an FIR at Kotwali police station, alleging that when he reached Rani Ki Sarai police station at night with food, the head constable shot his father on the diktat of then in-charge JK Singh. The Rani Ki Sarai police station took over the investigation from Kotwali since the case fell under their jurisdiction. The CBCID took over the investigation in 2003 and filed its chargesheet in court by Feb 2005.
