New Delhi: The murder of criminals in custody was a matter of grave concern for his government and the police, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said Thursday.
The state will deploy its “entire might” to stop such murders, Maurya said, adding the police would also step up security wherever needed.
VIDEO | “This is a matter of grave concern for the government as well as police. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed and the truth will come out soon,” says UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya on Sanjeev Jeeva killing on Lucknow court premises. pic.twitter.com/DXWpnPnNpH
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 8, 2023
Maurya was speaking a day after the daylight murder of gangster Sanjeev Jeeva inside the Lucknow Civil Court on Wednesday.
According to police, the assailant Vijay Yadav – who was caught – made his way into the court dressed as a lawyer.
The gangster, accused in the 1997 murder of BJP leader Brahm Dutt Dwivedi, was being produced in court for a hearing when he was shot dead. He was also a close aide of jailed don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari.
Two police officers and a little girl were injured in the shooting.
On 15 April, gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead by three people posing as journalists in Prayagraj. The duo were being taken to a medical college amid heavy security.
The five-time MLA and one-term MP was talking to reporters when he was fired at point-blank by Lovelesh Tiwari, Sunny Singh and Arun Maurya. The three men immediately surrendered. Ahmed’s teenage son was shot dead by police days earlier.
Maurya said Thursday that special investigation teams have been formed in both cases to investigate these murders and a report would be tabled soon.
The BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government faced a severe backlash from opposition parties after the murder of Atiq Ahmed and his brother, with most decrying the “brazen anarchy in the state”.
Leaders maintained that criminals should be given the strictest punishment, but within the framework of law. “It should be our collective endeavour to ensure that the judicial system and rule of law are at all times honoured in letter and spirit,” Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh had said.
Incidentally, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told the Assembly on 25 February that he would end the mafia in the state. “Iss House mein keh raha hoon… Iss mafia ko mitti me mila denge (I am telling this House that I will destroy the mafia),” he had said a day after the murder of Umesh Pal, a key witness to the killing of Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Raju Pal in 2005.
Within 50 days, four accused in Pal’s murder were killed in three separate police encounters.
Atiq Ahmed and his brother were accused of Umesh Pal’s murder. They had been sentenced to life for kidnapping Pal in 2006 to coerce him into testifying in their favour.
BSP MLA Raju Pal was murdered a year after he won the 2004 elections, defeating Atiq’s brother Mohammad Ashraf.
Also read: Lucknow court firing: Slain gangster’s wife approaches SC for permission to attend last rites