Bulandshahr violence: Bajrang Dal asks Yogesh Raj to surrender, says he is innocent
Bulandshahr (UP), Dec 5: The Bajrang Dal on Wednesday asked its Bulandshahr convenor Yogesh Raj, the main accused in the mob violence here which left two people dead, to surrender before police and said it believed he is innocent.
The right-wing group also demanded a probe into the incident by the CBI, saying the police themselves were the complainant.
Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, who had initially probed the 2015 lynching of Mohammed Akhlaq, and a 20-year-old local man, Sumit Kumar, died of gunshot injuries on Monday as a rampaging mob protesting alleged illegal cow slaughter torched a police post in Bulandshahr and clashed with cops.
Raj is among the nearly 90 people booked for rioting and violence.
Some villagers in Mahav, where the cow carcasses were found strewn, have claimed that the locals had agreed to compromise and wanted to bury the animals' remains. But the right-wing activists carried them to the police post, creating a ruckus.
"Yes, we admit having brought the carcasses to the police station because we wanted action against those involved in cow slaughter. But when the police had agreed to our demand and registered an FIR, then why should we create ruckus?" Bajrang Dal's Western Uttar Pradesh region co-convenor Praveen Bhati asked.
Asked why then Raj's name had cropped up, he said, "It is because the two incidents have been linked. The people who had gathered here were outraged over cow slaughter and Yogesh Raj went to the police station to get a case registered."
"What happened here (violence at Chingrawathi police post) in the meantime, Yogesh Raj has got nothing to do with it. He is our district convenor, we are with him and he is innocent. He will cooperate with the police and come out at the right time," he said.
Bhati claimed Singh and Kumar were shot with guns of same bore.
"Sumit was killed by a private weapon and the police had fired that bullet. The FIR mentions that Subodh Kumar's private pistol was robbed. What was he doing there with the private weapon? The bore of the guns with which both were shot are the same," he said.
Bhati said Raj should surrender.
"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. In this FIR, the police themselves are the complainant and in such a situation how can they carry out a fair probe?" Bhati asked.
When told that a special investigation team is probing the incident, he said, "I am not satisfied with this, I think the CBI should probe it. All over the country the Bajrang Dal's image is being maligned and we are being portrayed as a violent organisation..."
"At least the truth should come out that a district level worker of Bajrang Dal cannot do such things," he added.
Bhati said connecting Singh's death with that fact that he was probing the Akhlaq lynching case would be incorrect.
The Bajrang Dal leader claimed Raj was on cordial terms with the inspector.
Bhati said he last spoke to Raj on the night of the incident and till then there was no complaint against him.
"Truth should come out and Yogesh should be brought to book if he is found guilty," he said.
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Four booked for tying 18-year-old to tree, beating him up in UP's Pratapgarh
Pratapgarh (UP) (PTI): Four people were booked here for the abduction and assault of a man who they allegedly tied to a tree and beat up, police said on Wednesday.
The incident, a video of which has gone viral, took place on Tuesday afternoon under the Kunda police station limits.
The FIR was registered on Wednesday evening based on a complaint from the victim's father.
According to Keshav Prasad Yadav, a resident of Mauli village, some people called his 18-year-old son Nikhil Yadav on the phone and asked him to come out of his house around 2.30 pm on Tuesday.
As he reached outside the village as instructed, the accused allegedly forced him into a car and took him towards the Tinpedwa forest area, where they tied him to a tree and assaulted, the complainant said.
The attackers also recorded a video of the incident and circulated it on social media. The purported video shows the men thrashing Nikhil one after another, while one of them is assumed to have recorded the act.
Kunda Station House Officer Manoj Pandey confirmed the incident and said efforts are underway to identify and arrest all the accused.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has shared the video on social media, describing the incident as reflective of a "dominant mindset" against the PDA (Pichda or Backward, Dalit, and Alpasankhyak or Minority), and demanded strict action against the accused.
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