Imphal, Feb. 24 : Rabina Devi was killed by a bullet fired from a “rifled firearm”, her post-mortem report has revealed, nullifying police’s claim so far that she was hit by a bullet from former militant Ch. Sanjit’s weapon — a pistol — during the controversial July 23 firing.
Dr Bijoy Singh, a doctor of Regional Institute of Medical Sciences who conducted the post-mortem, today told the Agrawal Commission probing the incident that the bullet that hit the pregnant woman appeared to have been fired from a “rifled firearm”.
Passerby Rabina Devi, 26, and former rebel Ch. Sanjit, 22, were killed in a shootout with police commandos along Bir Tikendrajit Road of Imphal city on July 23 last year.
The doctor also told the commission that the bullet was fired from a distance of about two to three feet.
Experts said the firearm is a bigger or long weapon like .303 rifle and AK rifles and not a small weapon like a pistol or revolver.
The doctor’s statement contradicted the claim made by the police that Rabina Devi, who was shopping in the area around that time, was shot by Sanjit in indiscriminate firing.
The police, after killing Sanjit inside a pharmacy, claimed to have recovered a pistol from him.
The killings sparked a storm of protest, leading to a three-month boycott of classes on charges that both Rabina Devi and Sanjit were killed by police commandos in a fake encounter.
The Agrawal Commission is probing the case even though the CBI is holding a parallel inquiry into the case following a directive of the Imphal bench of Gauhati High Court.
Another doctor of the institute, Supriya Devi who conducted the post-mortem on Sanjit, said a projectile was recovered from his body and it was handed over to the police investigators.
She did not say the calibre of the projectile, but said it was fired from a distance of about three feet.
The commission has asked the additional superintendent of police, Imphal West, A.K. Jhaljit, Imphal West police commando unit officer-in-charge, deputy superintendent of police, Krishnatombi Singh, and city commando unit, officer-in-charge, inspector Debendra Singh, to submit the list of police personnel deployed on that day along the Bir Tikendrajit Road by March 17, the day of the commission’s next hearing.
Seven police personnel, including one sub-inspector, who were suspended in connection with the firing, also appeared before the commission today, but no statements were recorded.
The commission’s chairman asked the seven to submit their affidavits by March 16.
The panel is also exam-ining the photographs of the incident published by Tehelka magazine for their veracity.