Rajnath speaks to UP CM, seeks 'effective action' in techie killing
New Delhi/Lucknow, Sep 29 : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday spoke to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the murder of a young Apple executive by police in Lucknow and sought "effective and appropriate action".
"Spoke to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on the Lucknow's incident of Vivek Tiwari. I have asked the Chief Minister to take effective and appropriate action," Rajnath Singh said in a tweet in Hindi.
His remarks came after a UP Police constable was arrested and booked for murder after he shot and killed a young Apple executive from close range. The state government has also ordered a probe into the incident.
According to the UP Police officials, the constable and his colleague have been dismissed from service and sent to jail. The Chief Minister has said if needed an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) would be ordered.
According to a colleague of Apple sales manager, the accused constable, Prashant Chowdhary, had shot at Vivek Tiwari after chasing the SUV he was driving. He had apparently failed to stop Tiwari during a late-night checking.
The incident happened at around 1.30 a.m, when Tiwari was heading home after the launch of iPhone XS and XS Max, along with Sana Khan, his colleague.
Khan said that after they were fired at, Tiwari got scared and drove the SUV into an underpass pillar, sustaining more injuries.
Director-General of Police O.P. Singh has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Inspector General (Lucknow) to probe the case. Superintendent of Police (Crime and Rural) will be part of the team which has been asked to submit its report at the earliest.
Lucknow SSP Kalanidhi Naithani has met District Magistrate Kaushalraj Sharma requesting a simultaneous magisterial inquiry into the incident.
The autopsy revealed on Saturday that the bullet had hit Tiwari in the chin and got stuck between the neck and the head, leading to his death due to "profuse bleeding".
The SSP said the constable had been booked for murder after Khan filed an FIR.
According to the police, when the constable at Gomtinagar Extension signalled Tiwari to stop for checking, "he tried to flee". Police officials said: "As Tiwari sped away, his car hit a bike on which two constables were riding, who then chased and shot him."
A second policeman has also been arrested and both were sent for medical examination to ascertain if they were drunk when the incident took place, an official said.
Tiwari's widow, Kalpana, has demanded that the Chief Minister should explain to her and her girls why the 38-year-old Apple executive was shot dead.
"We were so happy when the Bharatiya Janata Party government was voted to power...when Yogiji became Chief Minister... Was it for all this?" she said.
Adityanath told the media that a probe had been ordered and that it was "definitely not a police encounter". "If needed, we will not hesitate in ordering a CBI probe...," he said.
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
