The Tangled Tale of the Akram Encounter! Uttarakhand Police Action Under Scrutiny—These Questions Are Being Raised

Following the Akram encounter in the Paundha forest—located in Premnagar, adjacent to the state capital Dehradun—the police’s narrative now appears to be entangled in a web of questions. As the layers of the incident unfold, the various links in the chain of events do not seem to align.

Police Actions Under Scrutiny

The convoluted narrative presented by the police regarding the Akram encounter in the Paundha forest (Premnagar), coupled with the District Magistrate’s subsequent order for a magisterial inquiry, has fueled the very questions that the deceased’s family had been raising. The family members of the deceased allege that the encounter was orchestrated over a land deal worth crores of rupees.

Questions Being Raised Against the Dehradun Police

The most significant question surrounding this encounter case is this: given that Akram was scheduled to appear in court on April 30, why would he feel the need to commit a crime—specifically a robbery—just hours before his scheduled hearing? The weakest link in the entire narrative of this encounter is the inexplicable motive behind Akram committing such a crime, thereby drawing the police’s attention directly toward himself. Conversely, the family maintains that the true motive behind the encounter lies in a multi-crore land dispute—a transaction that had already been concluded.

DM Orders Magisterial Inquiry

In light of the allegations leveled by the family, Dehradun District Magistrate Sanvin Bansal has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the matter. The City Circle Officer (CO) of Haridwar has been tasked with conducting the investigation. Meanwhile, the police are conducting raids to apprehend Akram’s accomplices who were involved in the incident. It is pertinent to note that both accused individuals currently remain at large and have evaded police custody. To date, the police have failed to clarify the identities of the two individuals accompanying Akram, or how he came into contact with them.

Akram Had Crossed Paths with Naresh Rathore Previously

Separately, Akram’s past history with Naresh Rathore—the Station House Officer (SHO) of the Premnagar police station—has also come to the forefront of the discussion. As it turns out, following the high-profile Ankita Thapliyal murder case in Nakraunda in 2014—after which Akram went into hiding—he was eventually arrested by the Dehradun police in 2017 in Gujarat. Even during that period, Naresh Rathore was commanding the Premnagar Police Station. Rathore was also a member of the team that carried out the arrest. Approximately nine years later, Akram was killed in a police encounter within that very same police station’s jurisdiction; and—remarkably—Rathore remains the officer-in-charge of the Premnagar Police Station to this day.

Let’s understand the sequence of events in the Akram case:

• A petrol pump owner was robbed on Pondha Road.
• The police pursued Akram and his accomplices.
• Akram was killed during an encounter in the forest.
• Akram’s accomplices seized the opportunity to flee the scene.

Magisterial Inquiry Underway in the Akram Encounter Case
In any case, the key question now regarding the Akram encounter case is what findings will emerge from the ongoing magisterial inquiry—and how the CCTV footage, the post-mortem report, and Akram’s call detail records will help piece together the missing links.