by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The CBI on Saturday searched 14 locations in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, including the residence of a woman IAS officer, a Samajwadi Party leader and a BSP leader, in connection with its investigation into a case of illegal sand mining, with sources saying the role of former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who held the portfolio of mining, will also be probed.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) spokesperson Abhishek Dayal told reporters that the agency registered a case on January 2 against 11 people, including a few known public servants and unknown public servants and others, under several sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The agency has named the woman IAS officer B. Chandrakala, a former Hamirpur District Magistrate, miner Adil Khan, geologist/mining officer Moinuddin, SP leader Ramesh Kumar Mishra, his brother Dinesh Kumar Mishra, Ram Ashray Prajapati, a former clerk in the mining department in Hamirpur, Sanajy Dikshit, who contested the 2017 Assembly polls on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket, his father Satyadeo Dikshit, and Ram Avtar Singh, a former clerk in the mining department.
The official said that it conducted searches at 14 locations including one in New Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar area and Kanpur, Lucknow, Hamirpur, Jalon, Hamirpur and Noida (in Uttar Pradesh).
The agency carried out searches at two residential premises of Chandrakala in Lucknow and Noida and at the premises of the SP leader and his brother in Kanpur and his close associate Ambika Tiwari in Hamirpur.
Dayal said the case relates to the illegal sand mining between 2012 and 2016, which it had started investigating on the directions of the Allahabad High Court.
He said the agency was investigating the granting and renewal of the licenses for the mining in the state between 2012-16 and also during the ‘obstruction’ period.
The official said that the CBI team recovered a few documents and seized a bank locker and two bank accounts from the IAS officer.
From the residence of Adil Khan, the agency collected the documents related to mining. “We found that the mining licence to him was provided on the recommendations of the then mining minister Gayatri Prajapati,” he said.
He said the agency recovered Rs 12.5 lakh and 1.8 kg gold from the residence of Moinuddin in Hamirpur and Rs 2 crore and two kg gold from the residence of the retired clerk of the mining department, Ram Avtar Singh, in Jalon.
“Ram Avtar Singh was also holding a mining licence on a different name,” the official said.
The official said that it also carried out searches at the residence of SP leader Ramesh Kumar Mihsra’s wife in Lucknow but she has not been named in the FIR.
A senior agency official said that the agency will also probe the role of the Mining ministers in the state in 2012-16.
Former Chief Minister and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav held the mining ministry portfolio in the state from 2012 to 2013. Gayatri Prajapati succeded Akhilesh Yadav as Mining Minister.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Lucknow : Family of slain Uttar Pradesh Police Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, who was killed in Bulandshahr mob violence, met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday, even as the main conspirator of the mayhem, Bajrang Dal’s Yogesh Raj, continues to evade an arrest.
The meeting was held at the 5, Kalidas Marg residence of the Chief Minister here, where Sunita, the widow and her two sons Shreya and Abhishek were present.
Adityanath told the bereaved family that his government was with them in their hour of tragedy and would always remain by them, an official told IANS.
It was in Monday’s violence that the inspector was killed along with another civilian.
Although the prime accused — Bajrang Dal’s district coordinator — is still at large, the police have arrested four others named by Yogesh Raj in an FIR alleging cow slaughter.
Sarfuddin, Shajid, Asif and Nanhe — who were among the seven accused named for cow slaughter in the First Information Report (FIR), have been arrested, the police said.
The police also had reportedly picked up two minors but were forced to release them after villagers stormed the police station.
There has already been two high-level meetings on the Bulandshahr incident with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. However, there was “no clarity on the line of action” with regards to the arrests of men belonging to the VHP, Bajrang Dal and BJP — named in another FIR, informed sources said.
Two press notes released by the Chief Minister’s Office showed no mention of the lawlessness perpetrated by the Bajrang Dal and their ilk, but speak in detail about how strict action should be taken against people involved in slaughter of cows or running illegal abbatoirs, despite a ban announced on March 17, 2017, days after the Bharatiya Janata Party government was sworn in.
“It is now proved beyond doubt that the police is deliberately not taking any action against the Bajrang Dal leader as they have connections with the BJP” Vaibhav Maheshwari, the state spokesman of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) told IANS.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Lucknow/Bulandshahr : Four people have been arrested in connection with the killing of Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh and a young man in violence in Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh after cow vigilantes went on a rampage, police said on Tuesday.
The police, however, maintained it would be too early to conclude about the involvement of any organisation in the violence although local officials linked the mayhem to rightwing Hindu groups.
The police said the main conspirator behind Monday’s mob violence was Yogesh Raj, who is on the run and is said to be a Bajrang Dal activist.
Additional Director General (Law and Order) Anand Kumar said those arrested were Chaman, Devendra, Ashish Chouhan and Satish, who have been named in the FIR, while the prime suspect was Yogesh Raj.
“Those arrested have been found to be leading the crowd after being identified in a video. About 40-50 others who are unidentified were involved in the incident and police is confident of identifying them with the video evidence,” he said.
The official parried questions about the political links of the three key accused who are also said to include an activist each from the BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
“Yes, Yogesh Raj is the main conspirator,” he said, adding that he was yet to be arrested.
He said six teams have been formed to probe the incident and an SIT has been constituted to investigate the matter.
On allegations that policemen fled the spot leaving the slain Inspector alone, Kumar said the circumstances in which police personnel left the place would be analysed and till then no action would be taken against anyone.
He said the Inspector was first injured by a stone.
“He fell unconscious and was taken in a vehicle which was attacked by a mob with stones and gunfire,” he added. Videos which went viral showed the Inspector dead with a bullet wound near the vehicle and several activists running around in circles.
A .32 bore bullet was found lodged in the head of Subodh Kumar Singh.
Earlier reports said the Inspector was killed when he tried to reason with the Hindutva activists blocking a busy road with carcasses of animals they claimed were of cows.
About the death of the youth, Sumeet, only a probe can reveal whether he was killed in cross-firing or police firing, Kumar said.
He said a bullet had been recovered from the body of Sumit.
The officer said the dead officer being treated as a “martyr” and full state honour was given to him in Meerut in the presence of the police brass.
The body was taken to his village in Etah where he would be cremated with full honours.
In his village, his family broke down on seeing the mortal remains. His wife rued that he had sought leave but it was not granted. If he had been given leave, he would have been alive, she said.
His two teenage sons paid glowing tributes to their father, saying he never discriminated people on the basis of religion.
The officer’s elder son Shreya is studying MBA while his younger son Abhishek is a student of engineering.
The uncle of the dead Inspector said the family won’t accept the compensation of Rs 40 lakh announced by the government and instead wanted the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the village.
The government has formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the violence, the circumstances leading to it and to identify the people and groups involved.
Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati blamed the state government for the violence in Bulandshahr, saying the “lawlessness” in the state was a result of its “faulty and wrong policies”.
In a statement, the four-time Chief Minister said that government was now faced with the same mobocracy it inculcated to make political gains over the past many years.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Lucknow : The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government over reports of a Muslim youth being killed by the state police in a ‘fake encounter’.
The NHRC took suo motu cognizance of media reports which mentioned that Irshad Ahmad, 20, was killed in a ‘fake encounter’ in Muzaffarnagar.
Ahmad was shot dead in an alleged fake encounter by the Uttar Pradesh Police on Tuesday.
His father has said that Irshad had no criminal history and was killed in cold blood in a fake encounter.
The Commission has observed that the contents of the news reports, if true, raise the serious issue of the violation of human rights of the victim and his family.
Accordingly, it has issued notice to the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, calling for a detailed report within four weeks.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News
Lucknow : An Uttar Pradesh constable was on Saturday arrested and booked for murder after he shot and killed a young Apple executive from close range, an official said. The state government has also ordered a probe into the incident.
The constable and his colleague have been dismissed from service and sent to jail, the police said. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said if needed a CBI inquiry would be ordered.
According to a colleague of Apple sales manager, the 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 am, 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, further sustaining injuries.
The 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 (SP) crime and rural will be part of the team which has been asked to submit its report at the earliest.
SSP Lucknow has met District Magistrate Kaushalraj Sharma requesting a simultaneous magisterial inquiry
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 of Police, Lucknow, Kalanidhi Naithani, 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 “Tiwari sped away and his car hit a bike on which two constables were riding, who then chased and shot him”.
A police officer, not wanting to be named, said that “the constable fired in self-defence.” The Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order), Anand Kumar, however, conceded that “law has been violated in the incident”.
He also punctured the self-defence theory floated by his own men and said that had this been the case, the policeman could have fired at the tyre of the SUV rather than directly shoot at the man.
Kumar added that this was a “shameful incident for the police force”. Police had initially claimed that the bike was hit by the deceased and the constables were injured.
However no injuries were found on the policemen involved nor was their official vehicle damaged.
A second policeman has also been arrested and were sent for medical examination to ascertain if they were drunk when the incident took place, an official said.
Tiwari’s widow, Kalpana, has accused the police of being “trigger-happy”. She told reporters that the police had only informed her of “an accident” and that her husband had been taken to the Lohia hospital.
When she reached there, along with her two daughters, they were told that Tiwari “had died due to excessive bleeding”, she told the media, adding the bullet angle was not even revealed to the family.
The couple had spoken on the phone minutes before the accident.
The widow has demanded that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath should explain to her and her girls why the 38-year-old Apple sales executive was 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 asked.
Adityanath told the media that a probe had been ordered and it was “definitely not a police encounter”. He said “if needed, we will not hesitate in ordering a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the incident.”
—IANS
