CP shootout case: Two cops challenge their conviction

CP shootout case: Two cops challenge their conviction17 Dec 2007, 2157 hrs IST,PTI

Constables Sumer Singh and Kothari Ram, sentenced to life term in the Connaught Place fake encounter case, on Monday, challenged their conviction in the Delhi High Court. Ten cops, including the two convicts and the then ACP S S Rathi, were sentenced to life imprisonment for killing two innocent Haryana based businessmen - Pradeep Goyal and Jagjit Singh - at Barakhamba Road in New Delhi on March 31, 1997 in a fake encounter. Seeking suspension of sentence, the two constables contended that though they were part of the team that was hunting for the UP-based gangsters, the prosecution did not have any evidence against them and the trial court had failed to appreciate that. The Bench of Justice B N Chaturvedi and Justice G S Sistani would hear their appeal on Wednesday. ACP Rathi and Inspector Anil Kumar have already filed their appeal against their conviction and the Bench has issued notice to CBI and listed the matter in January next year. As per the CBI, the police team which was hunting for UP-based gangster Yaseen and his associate had gunned down Goyal and Singh by "indiscriminately" firing at the instruction of ACP Rathi without any provocation.