SLAIN INSPECTOR ATTACKED WITH AXE BEFORE SHOT DEAD: UP POLICE

MEERUT: Subodh Kumar Singh, the police officer killed in the December 3 violence over alleged cow slaughter in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr, had a thumb chopped off and received head injuries in an axe attack before being shot, the police said.

The facts came to light during interrogation of the main suspect, Prashant Nat, who was arrested on Thursday, and a recreation of the crime scene the same evening.

Bulandshahr’s senior superintendent of police (SSP) Prabhakar Chaudhary said the villagers had felled a roadside tree to block the Bulandshahrgarhmukteshwar road to protest the alleged cow slaughter in Mahaw village in the Syana area of the district.

“Inspector Subodh Singh reached the spot with police force and tried to pacify the mob. A villager, identified as Kalwa of village Chingrawathi, attacked the inspector with an axe in a fit of rage and chopped off his thumb,” Chaudhary said.

“The injured inspector snatched the rifle of a policeman and tried to disperse the violent mob but he was again attacked with the axe, sustaining an injury on his skull ,” Chaudhary said.

The SSP said the villagers also started attacking the police with stones. “The injured inspector ran towards an open field to save himself but the mob chased him and shot him dead. Other policemen also fled the spot to protect themselves,” he added.