Army hands over soldier suspected in cop’s killing
BULANDSHAHR VIOLENCE UP government transfers SSP for alleged dereliction of duty
SRINAGAR/LUCKNOW: The army handed over soldier Jitendra Malik, suspected in the December 3 shooting deaths of a police inspector and a villager in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr, to the state police for questioning on Saturday, providing a potential breakthrough in the investigation of the violence that roiled the district.
Malik’s handover came on the same day that the Uttar Pradesh government transferred Bulandshahr’s senior superintendent of police Krishna Bahadur Singh to the office of director general of police for alleged dereliction of duty, and replaced him with Sitapur SP Prabhakar Chaudhary.
A senior army officer in Kashmir said Malik’s handover by his unit in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian had been approved by army headquarters. Army chief Bipin Rawat had earlier in the day assured full cooperation to the UP police in investigating the Bulandshahr violence, which followed allegations of cow slaughter in the district. “If some evidence surfaces, we will bring him to the police,” Rawat said.
An army spokesman had said on Friday that the police had contacted northern command. ‘’Details would be released by police at appropriate time after positive identification,’’ the spokesman in Srinagar said.
Uttar Pradesh police, after scanning multiple videos of the violence on December 3, had identified Malik, also known as Jeetu Fauji, as the person responsible for the shooting that killed inspector Subodh Kumar Singh and a local resident, Sumit Kumar. Malik, who is with Rashtriya Rifles, was on 15 days’ leave when the mob violence took place and could be seen in several videos of the incident.
Malik’s family told the police that he had left Bulandshahr immediately after the incident and joined his unit in Jammu and Kashmir. His mother on Friday denied that Malik was involved in the violence and claimed that around 20 police personnel had raided the family’s house looking for him.
A senior police officer privy to the investigation said on condition of anonymity that one of the videos showed the army soldier, a local resident, firing a weapon, but his involvement in the killings was yet to be ascertained. According to army officials, the videos were also shown to them after which they identified Malik and handed him over to UP police.
The UP government, meanwhile, transferred Bulandshahr’s senior superintendent of police, a day after two policemen, the circle officer of Syana villlage, Satya Prakash Sharma, and Chingravati police post in-charge, Suresh Kumar, were shunted out. The three officers were removed from their posts for alleged negligence in connection with the December 3 violence.
The police has been under pressure to arrest those involved in the mob violence and shooting deaths, and has so far arrested nine people. Local Bajrang Dal head Yogesh Raj, the prime suspect in the case, is yet to be arrested. He had earlier released a video message in which he claimed innocence.
LOCAL BAJRANG DAL HEAD YOGESH RAJ, THE PRIME SUSPECT IN THE CASE, IS YET TO BE ARRESTED