Uttar Pradesh minister Brajesh Pathak on Sunday accused the state police of trying to “hush up” the murder of an executive who worked for Apple in Lucknow, PTI reported. A Special Investigation Team is currently conducting inquiries in the case.
On Saturday, the police arrested constable Prashant Chaudhary and his colleague Sandeep Kumar after allegations that Chaudhary shot the executive, Vivek Tiwari, when he did not stop his car after he drove it into a patrol motorcycle. The incident took place around 1.30 am on Saturday in Lucknow’s Gomtinagar extension area. The accused police personnel claimed that Tewari’s car hit them but have not yet explained why they had to shoot him to deal with the situation.
“The killers deserve to be in jail and they must get stringent punishment,” the minister said. “Action should also be initiated against officials who showed laxity in this case and tried to hush up the murder.”
“The lone eyewitness was kept in police custody for nearly 17 hours and her signature was taken on a plain piece of paper,” he said. “The FIR was not registered in the way it should have been. There is no consistency between the statement of Sana [Sana Khan, who was with Tiwari at the time of the incident] and the FIR. And efforts were made to hush up the case.”
Second FIR filed
Meanwhile, the victim’s wife Kalpana Tiwari on Sunday filed a second FIR in the case, accusing the police of trying to force Sana Khan to sign on a blank paper and not allowing her to make or receive calls for several hours, according to The Indian Express.
The FIR, quoting Khan, said: “Prashant Chaudhary, who was on the front seat [of a motorbike], put his pistol against the windshield and fired with intention to kill.” The first FIR was filed by Khan.
“I cried a lot for help and tried to stop people,” Kalpana Tiwari quoted Khan as saying in the FIR. “I tried my best to save him but the policemen that came [were] neither letting me make [a] call nor receive a call. They pressurised me to sign on a blank paper and later under the pressure of police and media officials, made me write on the paper. As I was very scared, I wrote whatever they asked me to.”
Chaudhary’s wife Rakhi Malik, who is also a police constable, continued her demand for a counter FIR to be filed against Tiwari. She claimed that her husband fired in self defence when Tiwari tried to run over him.
Adityanath dismisses demands to quit
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath dismissed demands for his resignation. “They [opposition] are free to demand whatever they want,” Adityanath was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times. “My government acted firmly and quickly in the case. An SIT has been set up. The guilty has been arrested. A thorough probe has been ordered and we will ensure that justice is done in the case.”
The Samajwadi Party and the Congress have blamed the Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state for the incident and sought his resignation. The Aam Aadmi Party has also criticised him.
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