Mohammad Sharif, a man once sentenced to death over the attack on the CRPF Group Centre in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, was shot dead on Tuesday by two motorcycle-borne gunmen. He was not a CRPF member. He was one of the accused in the 2008 attack on the force’s camp, and the killing came about a year after he walked out of jail.
According to Rampur SP Anil Sisodia, Sharif was riding pillion behind his 21-year-old son when two people on another motorcycle opened fire near the Panwaria village crossing. He was killed less than 200 metres from Khajuria Police Station, shortly after leaving the station where he had been summoned for verification. His son escaped unhurt. Sharif was taken to hospital but died of his injuries. Police have not disclosed a motive. Investigators are examining whether the killing was linked to his past in the CRPF attack case or arose from another dispute.
The 2008 attack
In the early hours of January 1, 2008, armed attackers stormed the CRPF Group Centre in Rampur with AK-47s and grenades. Seven CRPF personnel and a rickshaw-puller were killed and five others injured. Investigators later described the attack as plotted by Lashkar-e-Taiba. Some outlets report eight personnel killed, but court and police accounts cited here give seven personnel and one civilian.
From death sentence to release
A Rampur court in November 2019 sentenced four of the six convicts to death: Mohammad Farooque and Imran Shahzaad, both from Pakistan, Sabauddin of Bihar, and Sharif of Khajuria. Another convict received a life term and one got 10 years. On October 29 last year, the Allahabad High Court overturned the verdict that had sentenced four accused, including Sharif, to death. The Uttar Pradesh government has challenged that ruling in the Supreme Court, where the appeal is pending. Accounts differ on how to describe his status, with some calling him acquitted of the terror charges and others saying the principal convictions were set aside. The Supreme Court appeal means the legal question is not closed.
Reaction
Rampur BJP MLA Akash Saxena alleged that Samajwadi Party leader and former state minister Azam Khan had supported the accused and sought withdrawal of cases against him. The allegation is a political claim made after the killing, and police have not linked the shooting to any person or motive.
No arrests had been reported at the time of writing. The central questions are who the gunmen were, why Sharif was targeted a few hundred metres from a police station after being called in for verification, and whether the killing connects to the 2008 case. The pending Supreme Court appeal over his acquittal now concerns a man who can no longer be heard in it, and it is not clear how the court will proceed.
