Ghaziabad, Feb 22 (IANS): The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday demanded death penalty for four policemen who were involved in a more than two-decade-old staged shootout in Bhojpur, in Ghaziabad district.

At a hearing, CBI prosecutor Rajan Dahiya, terming the incident rarest of rare, said the motive of the policemen was to get promotion in the garb of a daring shootout, and they committed cold-blooded murder of Jasbir Singh, Ashok Kumar, Pravesh and Jalalludin.

"The society demands that the policemen be hanged," the CBI prosecutor said.

Countering Dahiya, defence lawyer Shammi Sharma said the shootout was not rarest of rare and only the prescribed punishment -- life imprisonment -- be awarded to the four.

Earlier, the court convicted the then Station House Officer of Bhojpur police station Lal Singh, Sub Inspector Yogendra Singh and constables Ranvir Singh, Surya Bhan and Subhash for being involved in the staged shootout on November 8, 1996.

Ranvir Singh died during the trial.

Lal Singh, Yogendra Singh, Surya Bhan and Subhash were sent to jail.