LUCKNOW: In a fresh row in UP encounter case, the family of Prabhat Mishra alias Kartikeya, who was killed by UP STF on the way back to Kanpur from Faridabad, has claimed that he was a minor.
Mishra, a sharpshooter, was one of the close aides of slain gangster Vikas Dubey. He allegedly accompanied Dubey while the later fled to Faridabad after the ambush in Bikru village in Kanpur that killed eight policemen on the night of July 2-3.
Now, a controversy has been kicked up over Mishra’s age. While the police mentioned he is 20, his family has come out with his documents including his Adhaar card and mark sheet to claim that Prabhat was just 17. In his documents, his date of birth is May 27, 2004.
Tracking the movements of Vikas Dubey, UP STF had gone to Faridabad. Though Dubey had fled the place giving a slip to cops, Prabhat Mishra was nabbed by the sleuths of UP STF with the help of Haryana police on July 7. The UP police got his transit remand on July 8. He was being brought back to Kanpur on July 9 but was killed by the cops near Panki in Kanpur while he was allegedly trying to flee from the custody.
The cops had claimed that while they were changing the flattened tyre of the vehicle carrying the criminal, he was taken out by SI Devendra and constable Sunil Kumar. In the meantime, Mishra punched the SI and snatched the service pistol of the constable while trying to escape.
As the UP STF sleuths chased Mishra, he fired at the STF personnel injuring constables Vikas and Sunil. SI Pravin Tyagi received a shot on his bulletproof jacket. The cops also fired in retaliation.
He was taken to Kalyanpur CHC where the doctors declared him dead upon arrival. A 9mm pistol was also recovered from his possession.
Following the encounter, the police had released a statement saying Mishra was 20-year-old. To confront the claim, Mishra’s sister Himanshi came out with his high school mark sheet (UP Board examination-2018) to prove that her brother Prahat was a minor. Not only his mark sheet, but his Aadhaar card also mentions his name as Kartikeya, DOB- May 27, 2004, son of Rajendra Kumar, address: Village Bikru, Post Kanjati, Dist Kanpur Nagar - 209204.
While Himanshi claimed that Prabhat Mishra was innocent, police said that he was one of the shooters who ambushed on the police party.
Even Prabhat himself had admitted on camera that he was one among the shooters and regretted killing the cops in Bikru.