Two ante-mortem injuries, including a bullet wound, caused inspector Subodh Kumar Singh’s death, says police.
Lucknow: Four people have been arrested in the Bulandshahr case in which a police inspector and a 22-year-old man were killed after protests over alleged cow slaughter took a violent turn Monday, the police said.
A suspected local Bajrang Dal leader, Yogesh Raj, is the main accused in the murder and rioting case. He is also the complainant in the cow slaughter case. FIRs in both cases were filed Monday, said Ram Kumar, IG, Meerut Range.
Two ante-mortem injuries — a bullet wound and an incised wound near the head — caused the death of inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, who was the SHO of Syana police station in Bulandshahr, said the police.
“The post-mortem examination has revealed that he had received a bullet injury near his left eye. At the same spot, he had also sustained an incised wound. The incised wound is likely to have been caused during stone pelting,” said Ram Kumar.
“These wounds were ante-mortem injuries. Yesterday, only the incised wound had been visible but during PM (post mortem), we found out that he had also received a bullet injury,” added Kumar.
Meanwhile, the post-mortem examination of 22-year-old Sumit Singh, a resident of Chandrawati village in Bulandshahr, is underway, police said.
“An X-ray examination has been conducted. He has a bullet injury, probably near the abdomen. The nature of the bullet (whether fired from protestors’ country-made pistols or a police firearm) is a matter of investigation,” the IG said.
The 2 FIRs
Two separate FIRs were filed Monday — one in the violence leading to the two deaths and the other in the alleged cow slaughter case.
The first FIR was filed at 1pm by Raj under sections of the UP Cow slaughter Act. This FIR named seven persons — all Muslim residents of Naya Bans in Syana area of Bulandshahr — as accused.
“Around 9 am on December 3, we – Yogesh Raj, Shikhar Kumar, Saurabh and others were in the fields of Mahath village when we saw Sudaif Chowdhury, Ilyas, Sharaft, Anas, Shajid, Parvez and Sarfuddin (residents of Naya Bans) and others slaughtering cows. The above mentioned people had slaughtered the cows and our Hindu sentiments were hurt. I have come here to lodge this report,” read Raj’s complaint.
The second FIR was filed by a sub-inspector a couple of hours later, and in this Raj is named as accused no. 1. This FIR lists 28 people who have been booked under charges of murder, sedition, rioting, arson, assaulting a public servant who is on duty among others.
The FIR states that when the police team, comprising SHO Subodh Kumar Singh, reached Mahav village after receiving information about cow slaughter, they saw Raj along with the other accused and around 40-50 men and women assembled at the spot and protesting.
“SHO Syana (Subodh Kumar Singh) tried to speak to the protesters but they did not relent and started pelting stones. After this, around 1.35 pm, under the leadership of Yogesh Raj they reached Chingrawati Chowk and blocked the road…They were asked to go to the police station and collect a copy of the FIR but the mob turned more violent,” the FIR says.
It adds that the crowd pelted stones, sticks and illegal weapons to attack the police team and during this the SHO was injured.
Also read: UP cop killed in Bulandshahr had investigated Akhlaq beef lynching case
Akhlaq case
Singh hailed from Etah district in UP and was the first investigating officer in the Dadri lynching case of 2015, when Mohammad Akhlaq (50) had been killed by a mob allegedly for cow slaughter and beef consumption.
Singh was the Station House Officer of Jarcha police station in Gautam Buddha Nagar district where the lynching case had been registered.
“He was the IO (Investigating Officer) of the Dadri lynching case from 28 September to November 9, 2015. He was the first IO of the case but he was not part of the final investigation in the case when the chargesheet was filed in court,” said Anand Kumar, ADG (Law and Order), UP police.
Singh had been posted in Varanasi and Mathura districts before being moved to Syana police station in Bulandshahr in September this year, he added.
Also read: UP cop among 2 killed as protest against ‘cow slaughter’ turns violent in Bulandshahr
Violent protests
On Monday morning, the head of Chandrawati village had approached the police with a complaint after cattle carcass was found in the fields. While an FIR was being lodged, some locals carried the carcass to the main road in a tractor-trolley where they staged protests and blocked the road.
Between 12 pm and 1.30 pm, the protests turned violent when a mob of around 400 protesters clashed with police teams, the said police. In the violence that ensued, Singh was injured and his vehicle attacked.
“Stones were pelted by the mob and there was a heavy round of firing from the crowd through country-made pistols,” said Anand Kumar.
The incident took place in Bulandshahr at a time when the Urs festival was being celebrated, for which around 15 lakh visitors had come to the district, the police said.