Bulandshahr Violence: CM Yogi Meets Slain Inspector Subodh Singh’s Family at His Residence

The Bajrang Dal suggested that the probe should be conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation, and not the state police.

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday met the family members of Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, who was killed in mob violence in Bulandshahr on December 3. CM Adityanath met them at his Kalidas Marg residence in Lucknow.

“Family of martyred Inspector Subodh Singh ji met Chief Minister today and CM assured the family of justice. A high level probe has also been ordered,” said UP DGP O P Singh.

After the meeting, state minister Atul Garg said, “The chief minister has decided that the government will pay off Rs 25-30 lakh loans taken by him for education and house.”

Garg said the Jaithara-Kuraoli road leading to his village in Etah would be renamed after the inspector. “A college will also be named after Singh to recognise and remember his courage,” he said. Garg is the minister incharge of Etah, the home district of Subodh Singh.

The DGP said, “We at the police force are like a family. Besides an extraordinary pension, we have also offered a job but the sons are studying and we have left it to their discretion as they may like to continue with their education,” he said.

While the elder son of Subodh Singh is preparing for civil services, the younger one is pursuing law, he said.

About the ongoing probe, the DGP said, “The CM has issued an order in this regard and the guilty will be brought to book,” he said and added, “It (The probe) is a different issue and will be discussed later.”

Following the meeting, deceased policeman’s elder son Shrey Pratap Singh said that the chief minister has assured them justice.

Shrey Pratap Singh, son of Police inspector Subodh Singh: We met the Chief Minister and he has assured us that we will get justice #BulandshahrViolence pic.twitter.com/ezL2MBqTAy

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 6, 2018

Adityanath had declared on Monday a compensation of Rs 40 lakh for the wife, Rs 10 lakh for the parents and a government job for a member of the family of the inspector, who was also an Investigating Officer (IO) in the 2015 Akhlaq lynching case.

The chief minister has drawn flak from the opposition parties for attending a laser show in Gorakhpur when the violence broke out in Bulandshahr on Monday.

The Opposition has said that such incidents are part of attempts to incite communal unrest in the society ahead of Lok Sabha polls and demanded his resignation.

An official spokesman said that the chief minister was of the view that the incident “is part of a bigger conspiracy, and hence all those directly or indirectly related to cow slaughter should be arrested in a time-bound manner”.

Amid the ongoing public anger over the cop’s brazen killing, Adityanath ordered strict action against cow slaughter, unlawful trade in cattle and illegal slaughterhouses.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Bajran Dal leader Yogesh Raj – the main accused named in the police FIR who continues to be on run – issued a video message on Wednesday claiming innocence, saying he was present at the site.

The right-wing group also asked him to surrender before police and said it believed he was innocent. The Bajrang Dal suggested that the probe should be conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation, and not the state police.

The police, who arrested four people after Monday’s violence, reported no further arrests till Wednesday evening.

Uttar Pradesh police chief O P Singh suggested there was “conspiracy” behind the violence.

With lakhs of people collected for a ‘Tabligi Ijtema’, a congregation of Muslims, 40 km from Mahaw village where the cattle carcasses were found, police also succeeded in containing what could have been a communal riot, he told PTI.

IG Crime S K Bhagat, replying to a query on the possibility of a conspiracy, said that the initial probe has found that the carcass was old. “The cow carcass is being assumed to be at least two days old. The final conclusion will be a based on a forensic lab report,” he told reporters.

On Monday, a mob of some 400 people, including right-wing activists, violently rampaged through the Chingrawathi village apparently after cow carcasses were found strewn in a jungle nearby.

Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, who had initially probed the 2015 lynching of Mohammed Akhlaq in Dadri, and 20-year-old Sumit Kumar died of gunshot injuries in the attack.

Bajrang Dal’s western Uttar Pradesh region co-convenor Praveen Bhati claimed Yogesh Raj had nothing to do with the violence.

“He will cooperate with the police and come out at the right time,” Bhati said.

“Certainly he should surrender, but I should also make it clear that the probe should be conducted by a bigger agency for the truth to be revealed,” he said, suggesting that the CBI should take over.

In the video, the man identifying himself as Yogesh Raj said when he heard about a “cow slaughter” at Mahaw village, he went there with his supporters.

“The police also reached there and we went to the Siyana police station for filing our complaint (about the carcasses),” he said.

Raj said that while he and his supporters were still at the police station they got to know that villagers were pelting stones.

“I have nothing to do with it. I have full faith in God. I will be cleared of all accusations,” he said.

The Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and the state’s Rapid Action Force (RAF) deployed in the area around the violence site has pulled out.

But a large number of UP police personnel stayed put around Chingrawathi police post, and along the Bulandshahr-Garhmukteshwar highway.

“Yes, the security has been lowered but the residents are still terrified,” Chingrawathi village head Ajay Kumar told PTI.

“Several people have left fearing their names would be dragged in the case. There are 50 to 60 unidentified persons in the FIR and that is the cause of worry for the people here,” he said.

No students turned up for classes at the government primary and junior secondary schools outside Chingrawathi village Wednesday, teachers said.

The wife and sister-in-law of Rajkumar Chaudhary, a former Mahaw village head and one of the 27 named accused in the FIR, alleged vandalism and assault by the police.

The carcasses were found on his fields and he and some others from the village are absconding.

The villagers claimed people that the Bajrang Dal came to the spot from outside and insisted on taking the carcasses to the police post. But the police visited their village, they said.

“Around 1 am on December 4, 14-15 policemen forcibly entered our house and vandalised everything. There was no woman police official with them,” Chaudhary’s sister-in-law Beena Devi said.

His wife Preeti claimed the police damaged their car, broke windows of the house and assaulted her.

“One of the policeman wearing a black jacket hurled abuses at me. One of them hit me on my right leg with a baton and the skin on that part has turned black around my knee,” she claimed.

Priyanka, 24, whose husband Jitendra Malik has been named in the FIR, also accused the police of assaulting her.

“I was at home with my father-in-law and three-month-old baby when the police came to our house. They assaulted me so badly that my hand got fractured and one ear also got badly injured,” she told PTI over the phone from a hospital in Meerut.

People in Naya Bans where seven of the accused in the cow slaughter case live, according to the FIR, said there is tension in the village.

Two of the accused in the case are minors, aged 11 and 12, while one, Sarfuddin, is claimed to have been wrongly named in the FIR.

The local people claim another man, Sudaif Chaudhary, said to be a resident of the village, doesn’t exist.