Relatives of Kuldeep Singh (alias Sonu), the 27-year-old recuperating in AIIMS following Monday afternoon’s encounter, today raised suspicions before Delhi High Court about the “highly improbable, incredible and clearly concocted” version of incident disclosed by the police.

Kuldeep’s father Jaswant Singh also submitted before Justice G S Sistani that he and his wife, who heard of Kuldeep being part of the gang of robbers on TV, had rushed to the hospital to see their son but was denied entry by the police.

The police counsel, however, countered that Kuldeep was in ICU at the time and assured the court that there would be no trouble if the couple went to meet their son in future.

Admitting the family’s petition, filed through senior advocate Aman Lekhi, the court directed police to file a detailed reply by February 9.

Lekhi has sought the court’s intervention in transferring the investigation to an “independent agency”. “The petitioner (Jaswant) has no faith in the agency (Delhi Police) investigating the matter,” the petition states. The police, it says, implicated Kuldeep to “cover up their own wrongs”.

The police claim Kuldeep was driving the car, with three other alleged robbers on way to a bank heist.

But Jaswant Singh today rubbished the claims. “It is highly improbable that my son would have driven his own Honda Accord to rob a bank,” he told Newsline. “There was no need for my son to rob a bank; we come from a well-off family. The police story — that my son was on way to commit a robbery — is false.”

The petition describes Kuldeep as a “hard-working boy helping his father in their family business”.

Jaswant Singh runs a wholesale meat and fish business from INA Market, near AIIMS in South Delhi. He lives in A-34, South Extension-I.