Bulandshahr violence: Armyman suspected in cop's killing arrested

Jitendra alias Jeetu Fauji was detained by the 22 Rashtriya Rifles in Sopore town in Jammu and Kashmir and was handed over to the Uttar Pradesh Police for further investigation on Saturday

The UP government Sunday transferred Raees Akhtar, who was posted as additional superintendent of police (rural) in Bulandshahr, six days after two people died in mob violence in the district following an alleged cow slaughter incident.

In a statement issued here, Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar said Akhtar has been transferred to PAC Headquarters in Lucknow.

Manish Mishra, posted as additional superintendent of police at modern control room, Ghaziabad, has been made the new ASP (rural) of Bulandshahr.

The development comes close on the heels of the arrest of an Army jawan allegedly involved in the killing of a police inspector during the mob violence.

"The Army handed over Jitendra Malik to Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force team in Meerut yesterday late night," IG STF Amitabh Yash told PTI.

On December 3, a mob of some 400 people rampaged through a village in Bulandshahr apparently after cow carcasses were found in a jungle nearby. During the violence, Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh and a 20-year-old man died of gunshot wounds.

Singh and his team had gone to the area to tackle the violence when they came under attack by the mob.

On Saturday, the UP government transferred Bulandshahr SSP Krishna Bahadur Singh to the DGP office in Lucknow. Kumar had said the senior superintendent of police will be replaced by Sitapur SP Prabhakar Chaudhary.

The government has transferred two other policemen of Bulandshahr district Circle Officer of Syana area Satya Prakash Sharma and Chingravati police chowki in-charge Suresh Kumar. Additional Director General, Intelligence, SB Shiradkar submitted a report on the violence Friday.

The transfers are understood to be in line with the findings of the report on police handling of the situation.

Inspector Singh, who died in the mob violence, was the investigating officer of the Dadri lynching case from September 28, 2015 to November 9, 2015. However, the chargesheet was filed by a different IO in March, 2016.

Police have arrested nine accused in the Bulandshahr case but the main conspirator, Yogesh Raj, the district convener of Bajrang Dal, is on the run. In a video that surfaced online on Wednesday, Raj had claimed innocence.

Another inquiry by a government-constituted SIT is underway, and the team is going into the details and video footage of the incident, an official said.

Also, a magisterial probe has been ordered by the government.

The Uttar Pradesh government has been severely criticised by opposition leaders over law and order and for its handling of the situation after the violence.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said the violence in Bulandshahr was an "accident" and there did not happen any incident of mob lynching in his state. He, however, assured that no one responsible for the violence will be spared.

The Congress has slammed Adityanath's downplaying of the severity of an incident of mob violence and said he has attempted to "derail" the probe in the case.