Taxi driver killed police inspector in Bulandshahr violence, arrested: Cops
Uttar Pradesh, Dec 28: A taxi driver was on Thursday arrested for allegedly killing a police inspector while he was trying to disperse a mob protesting against alleged cow slaughter in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district on December 3. The mob had attacked the police and set their vehicles and a post afire in a three-hour rampage that followed reports of the recovery of cow carcasses in the district.
Police said Prashant Nat, the taxi driver, has confessed to shooting inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, who was killed along with a local resident, Sumit, 21, in the violence.
The arrest comes over a week after Singh’s family blamed political pressure for the police’s failure to arrest the main accused in the case.
Earlier, six of the 27 accused named in the case were arrested. As many as 19 others have been held after they were caught on video footages of the violence.
A special investigation team (SIT), which was constituted to probe the violence, arrested Nat near Noida. It had until late Thursday been unable to recover Singh’s missing pistol, which was allegedly used to kill him.
Nat’s arrest comes even as three key accused, Bajrang Dal’s Yogesh Raj, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shikhar Agarwal, and Upendra Raghav, a Vishwa Hindu Parishad activist, named in the case remain on the run.
The police had on December 14 released posters with pictures of 23 people wanted for the violence.
Bulandhshahr’s additional police superintendent (crime) Shiv Ram Yadav said Nat has told his interrogators that he caught hold of Singh when the mob cornered him in an open field after Sumit was shot. He said Nat then allegedly shot Singh dead after snatching the inspector’s pistol.
Yadav said Nat had earlier been involved in petty crimes . He said Nat was not among the 27 people named in the case. Yadav added he had disappeared from his village along with his family members after the violence. He said Nat’s involvement was ascertained through footage of the violence, electronic surveillance, and statements of other co-accused and eyewitness.
He said the Special Investigating Team had been trying to trace Nat for a few days.
Yadav added Sumit had thrown stones at police along with four other accused, David, Rahul, Jani and Lokendra.
He added Sumit was hit when the inspector fired in self-defence. Yadav said Nat is a resident of Chingrawathi, where the violence had erupted after the recovery of cow carcasses in adjoining Mahwa village on December 3. He said Nat was taken to the violence scene, where the inspector was shot dead. The sequence of the event was recreated on Thursday evening, he added.
Yadav said the mob attacked Singh after the policemen deputed with him fled from the scene leaving the inspector to fend for himself. He added Singh’s pistol is yet to be recovered and that they will get Nat’s custody on Friday for the weapon’s recovery. He said the custody of David, Rahul, and Jani, who surrendered to a court, will be sought for further interrogation.
Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com
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Kerala court sentences man to life imprisonment for doc's murder in hospital
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Kollam (PTI): A teacher convicted in the sensational murder of Dr Vandana Das inside a hospital here was sentenced to life term on Saturday, and the prosecution said it will move an appeal seeking death penalty for the accused. The victim's family also batted for "maximum punishment".
Dr Das was brutally killed inside a taluk hospital in May 2023 by G Sandeep.
Kollam Additional District and Sessions judge P N Vinod sentenced Sandeep to a total of 30 years for various offences under the then Indian Penal Code (IPC) and said that after he serves that period, his life imprisonment for Das' murder will commence.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2.35 lakh on the convict.
Though the prosecution had sought death penalty for the accused during the arguments on sentence, the court was of the view that the case does not fall under the rarest-of-rare category to warrant the maximum punishment.
It was also of the view that there was a chance of the convict getting reformed as he told the court that the rest of his life would be one of repentance, the order on sentence said.
"At the same time, I agree with the stand of the prosecution to the effect that the sentence should commensurate with the gravity of the crime and the sentence should not only be reformative, but should also have a deterrent effect."
"In my view, the said objective can be achieved by directing that the term sentences that will be imposed will run consecutively and life sentence that has to be imposed will commence only after the expiration of terms sentences," the judge said.
After the verdict, special public prosecutor (SPP) Prathap G Padickal told reporters outside the court that he will recommend to the prosecution to file an appeal seeking enhancement of the life imprisonment to death penalty.
The victim's father said that the verdict has come as a relief for the family, but that he cannot authoritatively say whether his late daughter has got justice. He indicated his dissatisfaction with the punishment, saying that steps will be taken to seek its enhancement after discussions with the public prosecutor.
Dr Das' mother said that the family can only wish for the maximum punishment and it was up to the court to decide what sentence should be given. She said that the family will go in appeal, but declined to comment on whether her daughter got justice.
She tearfully said that she wants the convict to suffer the same pain that her daughter underwent "as he stabbed her 27 times".
The court on March 17 had convicted Sandeep for various offences under the IPC, including murder, destruction of evidence and wrongful restraint.
It had also held him guilty under the provisions of the Kerala Healthcare Service Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of violence and damage to property) Act 2012.
Sandeep was brought to the taluk hospital by the police for medical treatment during the small hours of May 10, 2023 and he went on a sudden attacking spree using a pair of surgical scissors kept in the room where his leg injury was being dressed.
A school teacher by profession, he had initially attacked the police officers and another person who had accompanied him to the hospital and then turned on the young Dr Das, who could not escape to safety.
She was stabbed several times and later succumbed to her injuries in a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram where she was rushed following the attack.
Dr Das was a native of the Kaduthuruthy area of Kottayam district and the only child of her parents.
She was a house surgeon at Azeezia Medical College Hospital and was working at the Kottarakkara taluk hospital as part of her training.
Sandeep had called the emergency number 112, claiming that his life was in danger. When local police located him, he was standing close by his home, surrounded by local residents and his relatives, and had a wound on his leg following an alleged quarrel.
He was then taken to the hospital for dressing the wound.
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