Brother shot cop in 2004, trial yet to begin as case diary untraceable

UNNAO: BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar is an influential politician. While the delay in his arrest is just one proof of how important he is in the corridors of power, his grip over authorities in Unnao can be gauged from the status of the 14-year-old case against his younger brother Atul Sengar.

Atul had allegedly shot the then additional SP Ramlal Verma near Ganga Ghat during an encounter with the group of criminals who were trying to flee with their weapons. He was named, booked, arrested but granted bail in the case the trial of which hasn’t begun yet. Why?

“Because the case diary went missing and hence could not reach the court,” testifies Verma, who is now an IPS and attached with the home guard headquarters in Lucknow.

Interestingly, it took an RTI plea for an officer like Verma to get the status of his case.

“I haven’t receive a single summon from the court to give testimony till date,” he said, adding, “I personally checked the status of my case with the officers posted in the district; they were clueless. Then I filed an application under RTI in May 2014,” he said.

The case dates back to 2004 and Verma was posted as additional SP. It was the SP government and Kuldeep had become the first time MLA from BSP.

The then station officer Ganga Ghat Shiv Badan had an encounter with armed criminals near Ganga riverbed during patrolling. Verma had joined in as part of reinforcement when the police team was outnumbered by criminals. He managed to get hold of some criminals who were trying to flee with their weapons.

While these men were being bundled into the police jeep, a bullet hit Verma on his leg.

The FIR (number 326/2004) named MLA’s a younger brother Atul and four others for the crime. Since the case involved a senior police officer, the MLA’s brother and all other accused were arrested and sent to jail —all of them got bail. “I was surprised as to why the case hasn’t come on trial; I never find an answer whenever I tried to gather information,” he said. As a result he used RTI and Unnao police, under the then SP Unnao Ratan Srivastava, admitted that trial could not begin as the case diary had gone missing.

Srivastava, who has retired as deputy inspector general of police, said the case diary could not be located till his transfer from the district.

“Without it the fate of case will hang in balance,” said Verma, adding, legally, since the case is state versus Atul Sengar the onus on trial to begin lies with the government.