Assuring there would be no attempt to protect the guilty in the alleged encounter case, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank also ordered that the six other police officers, involved in the operation that led to the killing of 24-year-old Ghaziabad youth, be sent to the Police Lines.

They include Inspector Santosh Jaiswal, Inspector Rajesh Bisht, Sub Inspector (SI) GD Bhatt, SI Chander Mohan, SI Neeraj Yadav and SI Nitin Chauhan.

The postmortem analysis has reportedly suggested that the youth had been shot from close range. It indicated that there were 12 bullet marks on the body along with 28 injury marks suggesting that he might have been tortured.

The police, however, have refuted the claim that Singh was tortured or that the encounter was fake.

Before he was sent to the Police Headquarters, SSP Sinha told The Indian Express, “The postmortem report is being misinterpreted by a section of the media. There is nothing to suggest that the boy had been shot from a close range.”

He also said the blackened spots, being interpreted as bruises, are actually bullet wounds. The doctors who conducted the postmortem were not available for comment.

The state government had ordered a CID probe into the matter on Saturday evening following allegations by Singh’s family that the encounter was fake.

The decision to shift the police officers concerned came following a huge public outcry that was supported by the Congress. Earlier in the day, effigies of the police were burnt by protestors in two places in Dehradun. Senior Congress leader Suryakant Dhasmana said, “The CID probe order is an eyewash, as the CID is very much a part of the state police. We demand a CBI investigation in the matter.”

Announcing the decision late on Sunday night, CM Nishank said: “We want law and order maintained at all cost. I will not tolerate killing of an innocent person.”

The deceased’s family has said that Singh had no criminal record and had gone to Dehradun on July 2 to join work at Sela Qui. They have charged the police with picking him up shortly after his arrival and cooking up the story to justify his killing in cold blood.

The police, however, are sticking to their version. They had said that three motorcycle-borne youth on being stopped by a sub-inspector in the upscale Dalanwala locality on Friday, beat up the sub-inspector and fled with his service revolver.

The police claim they had panicked since two of them were carrying countrymade guns.

The police also said the number of the motorcycle, on which they had fled, was flashed across the city and they were intercepted. They claim that the three had tried to flee by firing at the police personnel. One of them was killed in retaliatory fire, while the other two managed to escape.