The Delhi high court on Wednesday refused to grant bail to 10 policemen, including former ACP S S Rathi, sentenced to life imprisonment for killing two innocent businessmen in a fake encounter in the Connaught Place.

A division bench of Justice B N Chaturvedi and Justice G S Sistani dismissed their applications for suspension of sentence and granting them bail stating that the court would dispose of their appeals at the earliest and there was no need to hear their bail applications.

The court has fixed February 19 as the date to hear arguments on the appeals filed by them.

In October 2007, a Delhi court had held all 10 policemen guilty of gunning down two Haryana businessmen - Pradeep Goyal and Jagjit Singh - at Barakhamba Road in on March 31, 1997.

Besides Rathi, those sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life included inspector Anil Kumar, SI Ashok Rana, head constables Shiv Kumar, Tejpal Singh, Mahavir Singh, constables Sumer Singh, Subhash Chand, Sunil Kumar and Kothari Ram.

The policemen had pleaded that the businessmen were 'mistaken' for Yaseen, a dreaded Uttar Pradesh gangster and his associate.