Kanpur Fake Encounter Case: 12 Police Personnel Booked After 35-Year Inquiry

KANPUR: A police operation in Kanpur that led to the arrest of 12 men in 1991 has come under fresh scrutiny, more than three decades later, after a Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) probe concluded that the case against them had been fabricated.

An FIR has now been lodged against 12 police personnel accused of framing the men in a series of criminal charges.

The case dates back to August 1991, when the then Maharajpur police claimed to have intercepted a group allegedly preparing to rob passing vehicles on the GT Road.

Investigators have now questioned that version, saying the arrests were not made in the circumstances described by the police at the time.

According to the CB-CID findings, the men were allegedly taken from their homes while they were asleep.

Firearms belonging to members of their families, which were legally licensed, were subsequently presented as weapons recovered during the supposed operation.

The inquiry reportedly identified 18 police personnel as having played a role in the alleged conspiracy to implicate the men. Six of those named have since died.

The latest FIR was registered on Saturday at Maharajpur police station following a complaint by the CB-CID.

Twelve personnel, most of them now retired, have been booked under provisions of the Indian Penal Code relating to the fabrication of evidence, lodging false accusations, unlawful confinement and causing hurt.

Station House Officer Janardhan Singh confirmed the registration of the case and said the CB-CID would conduct the investigation.

The matter originated with a complaint submitted in 1991 by Kanpur resident Dev Prasad Pathak.

He had alleged that the then station house officer, Vidyasagar Tripathi, targeted his younger brother Rakesh Pathak and 11 other men after they declined to surrender a plot of land to him without payment. Tripathi has since died.

At the time, police maintained that they had acted on intelligence received on August 22, 1991, about a group planning to obstruct vehicles and commit robberies near Narval crossing.

They claimed that the men were caught in the early hours of August 23 after placing babul branches across the road.

The police also alleged that firearms, ammunition, and explosives were recovered. The resulting case included charges linked to preparations for dacoity, attempted murder, possession of arms and explosives, and unlawful assembly.

However, statements recorded during the CB-CID inquiry reportedly undermined key parts of that account. Umashankar Pasi, the driver of a DCM truck carrying soap from Kanpur towards Varanasi, and its cleaner, Brijendra Singh, were cited as witnesses in the original case but did not corroborate the police narrative.

They reportedly told investigators that a constable boarded their truck near Ramadevi crossing on the evening of August 22, followed by six other men.

The driver initially objected because some appeared to be intoxicated, but agreed after the constable insisted. According to their account, the constable then drove the vehicle to Maharajpur police station.

The witnesses said a sub-inspector and several constables later arrived and questioned the men. Two allegedly escaped, while three were detained.

The police reportedly claimed to have recovered country-made pistols, cartridges and bombs. The witnesses further stated that officers carried out additional raids later that night and returned with more men, along with a rifle and a gun.

The driver and cleaner also reportedly alleged that police obtained their signatures on paperwork the following day without reading the documents to them or allowing them to examine the contents. They maintained that no one had blocked the truck at Narval crossing that day.

Other witnesses, including Dev Prasad Pathak, reportedly told the CB-CID that police had taken the accused from their homes in the early hours of August 23.

The inquiry also examined allegations that a licensed double-barrel gun belonging to Rakesh Pathak’s father, Sadashiv Pathak, and a licensed rifle owned by Dev Prasad Pathak were taken away and later shown as recoveries in the case.

The CB-CID’s reported conclusion has now led to criminal proceedings against the police personnel named in the new FIR.

The investigation will determine responsibility for the alleged fabrication of the original case, which remained contested for 35 years.