New Delhi, July 4 (IANS) The Delhi government was Monday directed to pay compensation of Rs.15 lakh each to the families of two businessmen 14 years after they were shot dead by a police team that mistook them for mobsters.

 
 Justice S. Muralidhar of the Delhi High Court said: "Compensation of Rs.15 lakh will be awarded to each of the families. However, the amount shall be distributed equally among the widow and the children."
 
 Businessmen Pradeep Goel and Jagjit Singh were gunned down March 31, 1997 by the now-suspended Assistant Commissioner of Police S.S. Rathi and nine other policemen in central Delhi's business and shopping hub Connaught Place.
 
 The case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which indicted the entire 10-member police team and prosecuted it for the killings.
 
 The "callous" action of the police was aimed at getting accelerated promotions by claiming to have killed two gangsters, the CBI alleged. Rathi was, at that time, considered an "encounter specialist" of Delhi Police - a term used for those frequently engaged in shootouts with criminals.
 
 The CBI also accused Rathi of feeding false information to senior police officers to claim innocence.