Encounter cops transferred

Three days after the controversial encounter of a 45-year-old wanted criminal, Manoj Vashisht in a Central Delhi restaurant, Delhi Police have ordered transfers of all the nine police officials of Special Cell who were involved in the encounter. Meanwhile, the SIT is examining the 7 CCTV footages from the cameras that were installed inside the restaurant.  

“Manoj Vashisht’s family had asked Police Commissioner B S Bassi to transfer the officers who were involved in the case so that they don’t influence the case in any way. Bassi had assured them that their request would be looked into,” Delhi Police PRO Rajan Bhagat said.

The team that went to nab Vashisht was led by Inspector Dharmender Kumar who has been transferred to IGI Airport, Sub Inspector Vivek Singh transferred to PCR while Sub Inspector Bhoop Singh has been transferred to 1st Bn DAP. 

The remaining six others including two Head Constables and four Constables were also transferred from Special Cell. Meanwhile, the SIT is searching the 40 eye-witnesses who were present when the encounter took place. 

Several of them have already been identified and have been questioned. Also, a special team is scrutinising the CCTV footage to establish the exact sequence of crime.

On Tuesday, the post-mortem revealed that Vashisht died due to excessive blood loss because a bullet hit his head directly. The final autopsy report is awaited.  

Vashisht was encountered on Saturday evening when he went to meet someone at Sagar Ratna Restaurant in Central Delhi’s New Rajendra Nagar area.