HC adjourns hearing in CP shootout case

New Delhi, Feb 20 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today adjourned the hearing in the CP shootout case till Friday.

Ten policemen, including former ACP S S Rathi, have been serving life imprisonment for killing two innocent businessmen in a fake encounter in Connaught Place.

Hearing the petition of main accused former ACP Satyavir Singh Rathi, the Division Bench of Justice B N Chaturvedi and Justice G S Sistani adjourned further hearing in the case till Friday.

Sathi's counsel called the sentence ill-conceived and pleaded that his client was innocent. However, additional solicitor general PP Mahotra, arguing on behalf of the Central Bureau of Investigation contented that the decision of the trial court setencing Rathi to life imprisonment be upheld.

The Bench had dismissed the appeallants' application for suspension of sentence stating that the court would dispose of their appeals expeditiously. There was also no need for the court to hear their bail applications.

In October last year, a city court had held all 10 policemen guilty of shooting two Haryana businessmen - Pradeep Goyal and Jagjit Singh - at Barakhamba Road in Connaught Place on March 31, 1997.

Besides, the then ACP Rathi, those sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life included Inspector Anil Kumar, SI Ashok Rana, Head Constables Shiv Kumar, Tejpal Singh, Mahavir Singh, Constables Sumer Singh, Subhash Chand, Sunil Kumar and Kothari Ram.

The policemen had taken the plea that the businessmen were killed under "mistaken identity" of Yaseen, a dreaded Uttar Pradesh gangster and his associate.

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