Only criminals getting killed in encounters: UP minister

Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Minister Dharampal Singh said Saturday only "real criminals" were shot dead in encounters during the term of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Singh comments came after he was repeatedly asked by reporters in Mathura over the gunning down of 38-year-old Vivek Tiwari early in the morning by a policeman when the Apple area manager allegedly refused to stop his car for checking in Lucknow's posh Gomti Nagar area.

"Everyone will get justice... There will be no politics of appeasement. Those who commit mistakes will be punished," the minister said.

He said only those who are actual "criminals" have been shot dead in police encounters and the state government had been very cautious on this issue.

Saying that "goonda raj" and "mafia raj" prevailed during the previous governments in the state, Singh said the country was "fortunate" to have Narendra Modi as prime minister and Adityanath as UP chief minister.

Under Adityanath's rule, Singh asserted injustice would not be done to anyone and the guilty would not be spared.