NEW DELHI: The CBI arrested Rajendra Rathore, BJP MLA from Rajasthan, on Thursday for his alleged involvement in the fake encounter of liquor seller and smuggler Dara Singh in October 2006.
The arrest of Rathore, who is known to be close to former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, triggered protests by the BJP workers across the state.
Senior police officer A K Jain, who was the then Additional DG (Crime), surrendered before the court in February for his alleged involvement in the case.
Dara Singh, a resident of Mundital village in Churu district of Rajasthan, was allegedly killed by police special operation group (SOG) on the outskirts of Jaipur on October 23, 2006.
The Supreme Court directed the CBI to take up the investigation of the case in April, 2010, after Singh’s wife filed a petition in the apex court.
The CBI probe revealed that Singh was allegedly killed in a fake encounter as part of a criminal conspiracy. “The accused were given sufficient opportunity to present their plausible defence,” the CBI sources said.
On June 3, 2011, the CBI filed a chargesheet in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jaipur, alleging involvement of 16 accused, including Jain, nine police officers and five constables of the Rajasthan police.
It was stated in the chargesheet that Dara Singh was kidnapped and forcibly kept in confinement by the accused policemen and killed in a fake encounter on the outskirts of Jaipur.
The accused have been booked for murder, criminal conspiracy, kidnapping and wrongful confinement under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.