Where's CBI, asks Ashiana victim's father

PATNA: The controversy over the Ashiana Mor incident on December 28 last refuses to die down. Exactly one month after the incident in which three youths were killed in an allegedly fake police encounter, the father of one of them has expressed his unhappiness over the “inordinate� delay in punishing the persons responsible for killing his son.
Jagdish Prasad Gupta, father of Vikas Ranjan, one of the youths killed in the “fake police encounter� at the Sammelan Market, has reservations about the CBI inquiry.“No officials, barring some from the CID, have so far visited my house. One month has already gone by, but the accused are yet to be booked... What is the CBI doing after all?� asked Gupta and his wife Kundan while talking to TNN on Tuesday. Meanwhile, police headquarters sources said the CBI is yet to take over the case.
Gupta, peeved by the slow pace of inquiry and delay in locating the culprits, demanded that the “matter be handed over to a special court� so that justice could be done without delay. The Guptas also demanded that Pota be invoked against Shamse Alam and other policemen involved in the killing of the youths. “What an irony! The same Shamse Alam signed the police verification papers of Prashant at 3.30 pm on the fateful day, and around 4.30 pm he shot him down. The policemen who killed the youths, are the biggest traitors of the country. They must be punished,� said Kundan.
Although the Guptas received a compensation of Rs 5 lakh from the government, they rue that nothing has been done so far to make a “smarak� (memorial) at the Sammelan Market site or rename Ashiana Mor as “Shaheed Chowk� as announced by the government. “Though all this is not going to bring back my son, it will at least be a small tribute to the one who always worked for national integration,� said Vikas’s mother while showing the testimonials of his constructive work during the Kargil war. “My son lived like a soldier and dreamt like a soldier, and therefore, we want the same ‘samman’ (honour) for him as well,� added Gupta.
The family’s ire against the police was apparent in their off and on outbursts during the conversation: “When these youths were killed, forces from three police stations rushed to the spot. But when it came to identifying the culprits (some Sammelan Market shop owners who were allegedly involved in the beating and subsequent killing of the youths), nobody has come forward,� said one of the relatives of the Guptas on the condition of anonymity. “Can’t the police locate the culprits?� he put a poser. Meanwhile, the Gupta family has got a collection of poems written by Vikas published in order to keep his memory alive.