Allahabad High Court orders CBI probe into UP police encounter

The Allahabad High Court's Lucknow bench has ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into a controversial police encounter in the Shravasti district of Uttar Pradesh. The court issued the order following a criminal revision petition filed by Alauddin, also known as Chhotkau, who sustained gunshot wounds to both legs during a May 2025 encounter.

The court expressed strong skepticism regarding the police narrative, questioning how officers remain entirely unscathed while suspects consistently receive shots specifically to the legs. The bench noted that the tendency to shoot suspects in the legs to gain social media praise, out-of-turn promotions, or to please senior officials is dangerous, emphasizing that the power to punish lies with the judiciary, not the police.

In its observations, the court identified several discrepancies in the First Information Report (FIR) filed by Station House Officer Ashwini Kumar Dubey. The court questioned the feasibility of 13 police officers traveling in a single government vehicle and ordered an investigation into the officer's marksmanship, specifically whether he could accurately hit a target with a 9mm service pistol at 15 meters in the dark based only on the sound of a weapon being loaded. The CBI has been directed to submit its report within three months.