More articles by

Deepak Tiwari
Deepak Tiwari

Madhya Pradesh

MP IPS officer stripped of gallantry award for staging fake encounter

fake-encounter-cop-loses-medal Dharmendra Choudhary

A Madhya Pradesh IPS officer, Dharmendra Choudhary, currently posted as deputy inspector general (DIG) at Ratlam, has been be stripped of his bravery award after National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) found that he had orchestrated a fake encounter.

The gazette notification issued from the President’s secretariat after the NHRC recommendation stated that the medal was being taken away. The notice said the cop is stripped of his medal “under Rule 8 of the Rules Governing the Award of Police Medal.”

Choudhry was promoted to IPS cadre from state police services in 2007. He had received the gallantry award when he was posted as additional SP of Jhabua in 2002. He had gunned down an inter-state dacoit named Lobhan, who carried a reward of Rs 16,000 on his head, during his tenure as additional SP there. According to police report filed after the encounter, Choudhry led the police team which killed the bandit.

Later, in the wake of complaints about the encounter, an inquiry panel was instituted in 2008 and NHRC raised several questions. The encounter turned controversial after two constables of Rajasthan Police were given out-of-turn promotion along with some MP police constables who allegedly formed the encounter team.

Later, in the NHRC inquiry, it was revealed that the firing between the alleged dacoit and police was staged. Initially, the NHRC report was rejected by the state police. The NHRC, in its report, quoted the autopsy report which stated gunshots were fired from close range.

The commission has also ordered the MP government to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the family of Lobhan. It recommended the state government to take action against the police officer.

However, the police does not agree to the report of NHRC and maintain that encounter was genuine. Choudhary refused to comment on the issue saying he will speak to his higher officials.

This browser settings will not support to add bookmarks programmatically. Please press Ctrl+D or change settings to bookmark this page.
Topics : #Madhya Pradesh

Related Reading