Bulandshahr: A retired police circle officer, who was absconding in a 2002 fake encounter case, surrendered before a court on Wednesday, authorities said.
The development came after a reward of Rs 25,000 was announced on Tuesday for any information leading to Randhir Singh’s whereabouts.
Eight policemen were accused of staging an encounter of a B.Tech student.
Pradeep, a resident of Sahpani, was killed in an encounter in the Sikandrabad area of the district in 2002 after he was shown to be involved in a bus robbery case.
The investigation of the case was handed over to the Crime Branch – Criminal Investigation Department (CBCID), which had submitted its closure report in the court.
Based on a complaint by the victim’s father Yashpal, a trial court began proceedings in the case, during which summons and warrants were issued against policemen involved in the encounter.
Four policemen have since been granted bail by the court. Warrants were being issued against the rest.
One of the accused surrendered before the court on September 20, while two others were arrested by the district police on September 22 and 24.
The warrants have been issued continually by the court since 2017 for the arrest of the then inspector Singh who had led the fake encounter.
On September 30, the Supreme Court had imposed a fine of Rs 7,00,000 against the state government for defending the accused police personnel in the matter.