The Uttar Pradesh Police had booked seven people for cow slaughter less than an hour before a police inspector was killed in violence in Bulandshahr district on Monday afternoon. Yogesh Raj, a Bajrang Dal office-bearer who filed the cow slaughter complaint, is the main accused in another First Information Report filed by police in connection with the violence. He is yet to be arrested.
The inspector, Subodh Kumar Singh, and a civilian, Sumit Kumar, were killed in the mob violence that erupted after the police were deployed to Mahaw village around 11 am on Monday to control angry villagers who had complained that they found multiple cow carcasses. The police have not yet confirmed that those were cow carcasses.
The first complaint was filed by Yogesh Raj, who his sister confirmed to be the district coordinator of the Hindutva outfit Bajrang Dal. The cow slaughter FIR names seven people – Sudaif Chaudhary, Ilyas, Sharafat, Parvez, Sarfuddin and two minor children – who were booked under sections of the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1955, and the Section 295 of the Indian Penal Code (insult to religion).
The second FIR was filed after the violence. According to the police, villagers had blocked the Bulandshahr-Garh Road and attacked the Chingrawati police station. Several vehicles were also set on fire. Unidentified officials told PTI that at least four persons who have been booked for violence are workers and functionaries of Hindutva organisations including the Bajrang Dal. Raj, a law student who lives around a kilometre away from the site of the violence, is the prime accused. His relatives claimed he was at his institute for an examination at the time of the violence.
Four people were arrested and four detained for questioning on Tuesday in connection with the violence. The police did not disclose their identities. The FIR registered for the violence has identified at least 27 people and includes 17 charges such as arson, rioting, vandalism, assaulting public officers and murder. Around 50 to 60 unidentified people were also named in the FIR, reported PTI.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Bulandshahr) KB Singh told Scroll.in that 35 locations in two villages have been searched and six police teams are conducting inquiries.
Adityanath has announced Rs 40-lakh compensation for Subodh Kumar Singh’s wife, Rs 10 lakh for his parents and a government job for a family member. Singh was the house officer at the Siyana police station. He was the investigating officer in the Dadri lynching case for a couple of months in 2015. Additional Director General (Intelligence) SV Shirodkar on Tuesday visited the spot where Singh was killed, reported ANI.
NHRC notices to government, police
The National Human Rights Commission on Tuesday issued notices to Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Anup Chandra Pandey and Director General of Police Om Prakash Pandey in connection with the violence in Bulandshahr.
The panel said it has asked the state government and the police chief to respond to its notices within a week. The commission said the responses should mention what action was taken against those who indulged in the violence, and the relief and rehabilitation measures for the families of the deceased.
‘Situation returning to normal’: Police
On Tuesday, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Anand Kumar said the situation in the district was returning to normal. “Tension has eased in the strife-torn Bulandshahr and efforts are on to ensure there is no trouble in future,” he told reporters. Six police teams are working on the case and are trying to identify the accused through video footage, said Kumar.
The accused have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, pertaining to rioting, causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty, wrongful restraint and murder, PTI reported.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Rohaniya legislator Surendra Singh denied any role of Bajrang Dal members in the death of Subodh Kumar Singh. He claimed that the officer was killed in police firing. “I suspect that the inspector was killed by bullet fired by police,” Surendra Singh said. “Bajrang Dal activists might have engaged in brick batting but they did not open fire. They had not gone there with bullets.”
He added that the police had not “deliberately killed” Subodh Kumar Singh. “The probe in the matter is on and it would be ascertained that bullet of which bore hit the inspector,” the MLA said.
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