Original file of Rampur Tiraha case missing, CBI Seeks Approval of Photocopies

It can be called the saddest day for those who sacrificed their life for the separate Uttarakhand state. Because the CBI, which is probing the shootout at Rampur Tiraha in Muzaffarnagar, has told the court that the documents including the charge sheet and the original copy of the FIR have gone missing. The CBI has requested the court to consider the photocopy as the original document and allow proceedings.

The CBI has informed a court here that original documents including the charge sheet and FIR relating to the 1994 Rampur Tiraha firing case are missing and sought permission to proceed with the photocopies.

The case relates to police firing on Uttarakhand state agitators at Rampur Tiraha in Muzaffarnagar district on the midnight of 1 and 2 October 1994.

It is alleged that seven agitators were killed in police firing and policemen raped agitating women. The CBI had filed separate charge sheets in this case.

Nineteen former policemen are facing trial under IPC sections 376D (gang rape), 554 (sexual harassment) and 492 (breach of contract to serve at a remote place).

According to CBI counsel Dhara Singh, the original documents including the chargesheet and the FIR are missing from the case file and the CBI has requested the court to allow it to proceed with the trial with photocopies of these documents.

Dhara Singh later told the media that Additional District Sessions Judge Shakti Singh has fixed August 3 as the date for passing the order on the request of the CBI.

According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the charge sheet along with other documents was filed in 1996 in a special court in Dehradun after investigation. The cases were later transferred to the Muzaffarnagar court of UP.