First arrest made in Sandeep Gadoli fake encounter case

‎In a major breakthrough in the alleged fake encounter of Haryana based gangster Sandeep Gadoli, the Mumbai SIT on Tuesday late evening picked up inspector of Praduman Yadav and brought him to Mumbai early Wednesday. Later, in the morning, he was arrested by the SIT and by afternoon, he will be produced before the court. It is the first arrest in the case. However it not yet confirmed whether Yadav surrendered or cops nabbed him while on run.

Sandeep Gadoli

After the Punjab and Haryana court, who had ordered stay on the arrest of five policemen in the alleged fake encounter, the court had lifted the stay last week. A team of Mumbai crime branch (SIT officers) was in Haryana searching for the five policemen who are now on run. Meanwhile, the only eyewitness in the case, Divya Pahuja, girlfriend of Gadoli is still untraceable. Rest of the policemen are still wanted in the case.

On February 7th this year, team of cops from Gurgaon police in Haryana including two inspectors (including Yadav, who is now arrested) carried out the encounter in an Andheri west hotel. The Gurgaon police claimed that Gadoli fired back on them, but investigations by the local police, family members of Gadoli and later by the crime branch revealed that Gadoli was killed in cold blood. A separate SIT was appointed to investigate the case.

After the court lifting the ban on arresting the accused, the crime branch team was prepared to arrest the policemen anytime. Over two teams of crime branch are continuously working on the case.

The family members of Gadoli welcome the arrest but believe that all the accused in the case should be arrested and tough action should be taken against the accused policemen involved in the fake encounter.

The SIT will seek the custody of inspector Praduman from the court and interrogate him in the alleged fake encounter case.