case which was described in the FIR of cases registered at 18.00 hrs on 12 December 1998 by SI Mukhlal under sections 399/402/353/307/34 IPC and 26(2b)127 Arms Act. The FIR, written in first person by SI Mukhlal, briefly stated that information was received by him at 22.10 hrs on 11 December 1998 that the accused, Tolwa Singh, wanted in a number cases, fully armed, was staying with his gang near Chai Tola, village Bhatsara, and was planning a heinous crime. On the basis of this information and a request to senior officers, SI Mukhlal was provided a special force and he alongwith one SI and 2 ASis from his police station left for verification of the information received. When the SI alongwith his colleagues reached Chai Tola at 05.00 hrs there was a heavy fog. The police party, hearing same voices, asked them to stop. The gang at this stage started firing and did not surrender as asked by the police. The miscreants tried to escape on motorcycles firing intermittently, and were followed with difficulty by the police due to the thick fog. When the police reached a village and started looking for them, the criminals again opened fire indiscriminately. In self defence, SI Sanjay Kumar fired one round and Constable Ram Prakash fired two rounds from their rifles and the criminals ran away in the thick fog. The police party received the information that one criminal was lying injured in the village. On enquiry, he disclosed his name to be Santosh Kumar and provided other particulars. He was immediately sent, with some police personnel, in a jeep for treatment to Purnea Sadar Hospital. According to the police version, a country-made pistol with a fired cartridge was recovered from Santosh Kumar. A recovery memorandum was prepared and signed by three independent wimesses. Blood stained earth was also recovered. Shri Tripathi visited the spot of the initial encounter (Chai Tola) mentioned in the FIR and talked to a number of villagers in connection with this incident, While Shri Tripathi did not doubt that SI Mukhlal must have received information about the movement of a gang, he considered the story of the near-encounter of the police with the gang somewhat improbable. It is worth noting that Shri Tripathi was not shown the case diaries relating to the case in spite of his asking for them. After carefully considering the original complaint of Shri Dhirendra Prasad, father of Shri Santosh Kumar, the assessment of Shri N.K. Singh, former CBI Director, who had visited the village after the Incident, and the report of Shri Tripathi which was found to be convincing, the Commission made the following observations : There is substantial evidence to prove that Shri Santosh Kumar was killed by SI Mukhlal Paswan, officer-in-charge of PS Barhara because he had expressed his resentment and objected to the use of harsh and abusive language by the SI. The story of a police encounter in the village Chai Tola was a clever fabrication and concoction of evidence to cover up the totally unjustified killing of Shri Santosh Kumar. SI Mukhlal Paswan had, by collecting the blood stained earth from the place where