Minor was among 7 shot in the leg during Loni ‘encounter’, finds probe

Ghaziabad: Ten days after seven youths, all Muslims, were shot in almost the same spot in the leg and arrested for alleged cow smuggling, a probe conducted by the Loni circle officer (CO) has revealed that one of them was a minor and was sent to jail instead of a juvenile centre.
The departmental inquiry was ordered by Ghaziabad SSP Pawan Kumar against former Loni Border SHO Rajendra Tyagi, who had led the operation, after the minor’s family claimed that they had presented his Aadhaar card as age proof to police after the arrest but it had been ignored.
According to a report submitted by Loni CO Rajneesh Kumar Upadhyay on Sunday, the boy is 16 years old but the FIR filed under Tyagi’s watch mentioned his age as 18. The former SHO and his team were also negligent, the report said, as they did not confirm the boy’s age.
“We will present the investigation report in the court so that the boy can be sent to the juvenile centre,” said SSP Kumar.
Kumar added that the probe is also looking into other aspects of the ‘encounter’ too, and whether it was even necessary. “I have asked the CO to check the sequence of events, how Tyagi got the information about cow smuggling and whether he informed other senior officers. The CO will also visit the encounter spot to ascertain whether Tyagi and his team, which included eight other cops, could have made the arrests without shooting,” he said. Upadhyay said he would submit another report in this regard to the SSP after a thorough check.
According to the FIR filed by Loni Border police after the incident, around 6.12 am on November 11, they received information about cow slaughter from a man named Adil, whose father had rented out a godown near Behta Hajipur to Amir about six months ago for scrap collection and washing industrial drums.
Within 20 minutes of the tip-off, a team from Loni Border police station led by Tyagi reached the spot. As soon the police vehicle entered the godown, Amir fled along with his associates Bhura, Danish, Sonu and two or three others while the seven accused – Mustakim, Salman, Monu, Intezar, Bolar, Nazim and the minor boy -- began shooting at the cops, police said in its FIR. The cops fired back 16 times, resulting in injuries to all seven youths. Countrymade pistols, live cartridges, a vehicle and cow parts were recovered and the accused were booked under IPC sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) and 307 (attempt to murder).
The Loni CO said in his report that after the arrests, police had sent the carcass to the forensic lab, which confirmed that the parts belonged to cows.
The mother of the minor boy, meanwhile, alleged police had framed her son. “My husband died 11 years ago, after which my eldest son started working as a daily wage labourer. My younger son had started working with him in the past three years. For the past three or four months, he had been cleaning drums in the godown. I also met my son in jail and he told me he was just doing his job when the police arrived... They have defamed him in a fake case. He is innocent. A thorough investigation should be done,” she said.
In the past few days, the November 11 incident has been mired in controversy. Two days after the ‘encounter’, Tyagi was transferred to Indirapuram police station but refused to take charge, going instead on leave to his hometown without informing his seniors. In a general diary entry that he allegedly posted on social media, he alleged he had been shunted due to the shootout, which had “brought down” his morale. The photo went viral, after which he was suspended on November 16.
Tyagi found support from Loni MLA Nandkishor Gujjar, who wrote to the SSP asking him to repost him. In his letter, Gujjar said instead of being transferred, Tyagi should have been felicitated by senior officers.
MLA booked for ‘provoking enmity’
Meanwhile, Dhaulana MLA Aslam Chaudhary was on Sunday booked after a video clip surfaced purportedly showing him questioning the Loni ‘encounter’ and accusing Gujjar of giving support to Tyagi.
SP (rural) Iraj Raja said an FIR was registered at Masuri police station under IPC sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 505 (whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumour or report) and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony).