Police final report absolves loot, murder accused

LUCKNOW: The city police rely more it seems on intuition than evidence when it comes to cracking sensational cases. KKC petrol pump loot and murder case that took place last year is the latest instance where police theories kept changing, before the case closed on Wednesday. On December 23, Mohammad Jaseem, a petrol pump cashier was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants after a robbery off Charbagh station road. The investigating officer of the case, in charge of Hussainganj police station inspector Satendra Singh, moved an application before chief judicial magistrate under CrPC section 169 (release of accused when evidence deficient) after framing charges against two youths in February.The move has come only after cops caught members of another criminal gang who revealed names of actual duo which committed the act. Various teams working on the case under direct supervision of concerned DySP, two additional SPs and city police chief had various resources at their disposal which included CCTV footage and accounts of other staff members who worked at National Filling Station. In their mid-20s, Aashiana residents Rahul Dikshit and Vinay Shukla were arrested and they remained in prison for three months before the final report was submitted. The duo was arrested in February for being involved in a loot case which took place at Sitapur. On the basis of a confessional statement they were remanded to judicial custody by city police subsequently. Circle officer of Hazratganj area, Dinesh Yadav at that time had claimed that substantial evidence against Dikshit and Shukla have been gathered. But as the 90-day window to file a chargesheet inched close, the city police made a U-turn at the last moment and conceded before court that they had no evidence to frame charges."Involvement of the duo could not be confirmed from examination of the CCTV footage. Moreover, the petrol pump staff could not say for sure if they were the killers. We had no electronic evidence either," said Singh who added that investigations were on and the duo would be summoned again if required. As per sources, names of Barabankibased criminals have cropped up in the KKC loot case.