Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court has rejected the bail applications of four Uttar Pradesh police personnel accused in connection with the 2021 Jaunpur custodial death case. The HC also directed the trial court to expedite the proceedings and avoid unnecessary adjournments.In its 95-page order, Justice Samit Gopal reproduced the allegations mentioned in the CBI chargesheet that the accused police personnel caused grievous injuries to the deceased, Krishna Kumar Yadav alias Pujari, to extract a confession and subsequently murdered him by inflicting injuries sufficient to cause his death.The CBI alleged that false records were created to portray his death as resulting from an accident or an assault by unknown persons rather than from physical torture in police custody.The court rejected the bail applications of Jaysheel Tiwari, Ramkrit Yadav, Raj Kumar Verma and Angad Prasad Chaudhary, who were among the police personnel chargesheeted by the CBI in connection with Yadav’s death in police custody in Feb 2021.The chargesheet was filed against 11 police personnel for offences under Sections 302 (murder), 34 (common intention), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and other sections of the IPC. The special CBI judge in Lucknow subsequently framed charges on Sept 18, 2024.Earlier, an FIR was lodged on Feb 12, 2021, under Section 302 (murder) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Baksa police station in Jaunpur.According to the FIR, Krishna Kumar Yadav was allegedly taken from his house around 3 am on Feb 11, 2021, by the Special Operations Group (SOG) team and the then Baksa SHO, along with other police personnel.The informant alleged that later that night, police personnel returned with Krishna, who was allegedly unable to stand and shouted to his mother to save him, saying that the police would kill him. The family was subsequently informed that Krishna had died in police custody.Subsequently, a division bench of the HC, on Sept 8, 2021, directed that the investigation into the custodial death case be transferred to the CBI.The CBI subsequently registered its own FIR and filed a chargesheet against 11 police personnel.The CBI relied upon the opinion of an AIIMS, New Delhi, medical board, which opined that the deceased had suffered multiple blunt-force injuries and that the cause of death was shock due to the cumulative effects of multiple blunt-force injuries sustained by the body. The board stated that the injuries were ante-mortem, fresh and collectively sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature.In the bail rejection order, the court also considered the Supreme Court’s March 12, 2024, order cancelling the bail granted to co-accused Jitendra Singh. The SC had observed that the case involved an allegation of custodial death against a member of the police force and that a stricter approach was warranted while considering bail. It also noted the gravity of the charge under Section 302 of the IPC and directed the accused to surrender before the CBI court.The HC, in its order dated Sept 30, noted that the ongoing trial had examined 11 prosecution witnesses. The court also referred to its earlier observations in one of the related cases that the incident involved custodial torture and death with robbery in a well-planned conspiracy and constituted a clear-cut case of abuse of police powers and police high-handedness.
