Accused jawan handed over to UP Police; SSP removed
The armyman is among the 27 accused for the mob violence
LUCKNOW/SRINAGAR: An army jawan, who is accused of killing a police inspector during mob violence triggered by recovery of cow carcasses in Bulandshahr on Monday, was handed over to the UP Police for further investigation on Saturday.
Jeetendra Malik aka Jeetu was handed over by his Rashtriya Rifles unit, based in Jammu and Kashmir, to the team that is investigating the killing of inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, a senior army officer said.
A senior police officer privy to the investigation said the UP Police team was likely to reach Bulandshahr along with Malik on Sunday. He said the jawan was likely to be arrested on his arrival there.
Army personnel will accompany Malik to UP and he was likely to be kept in an army facility, the police officer added.
The development came on a day the Uttar Pradesh government transferred Bulandshahr SSP Krishna Bahadur Singh and replaced him with Sitapur SP Prabhakar Chowdhary.
KB Singh has been attached to DGP headquarters in Lucknow, principal secretary home Arvind Kumar said.
A senior army officer had earlier said a UP Police team investigating the Bulandshahr case had contacted the army and sought custody of the soldier, who had left home soon after the police inspector’s killing.
A defence spokesman in Srinagar had said that police had contacted Northern Command and the fullest cooperation was being extended. ‘’Details would be released by police at the appropriate time after positive identification,’’ the spokesman had said.
A senior police officer in UP said the armyman was on leave when he had come home to Bulandshahr’s Mahaw village where violence erupted after recovery of cow carcasses that led to the killing of inspector Subodh Kumar Singh and local youth Sumit Kumar. He said Malik was one of the 27 accused named in the FIR in connection with the mob violence. The officer said that one of the videos showed the presence of Malik at the spot and he was seen firing, but his involvement in the killings was yet to be ascertained.
Meanwhile, principal secretary, home, Arvind Kumar said the outgoing SP of Sitapur Prabhakar Chowdhary will be replaced by another IPS officer LR Kumar, who was on the waiting list.Kumar said Syana circle officer Satya Prakash Sharma and Chingrwathi police outpost incharge Suresh Kumar in Bulandshahr had been transferred on Friday night for dereliction of duty. He said Sharma was sent to police training centre in Moradabad while Kumar was transferred to Hamirpur.
He refused to comment on the shifting of the Bulandshahr SSP but other home department officials admitted this was a fallout of the December 3 violence. A senior home department official said Krishna Bahadur Singh was shifted reportedly for negligence in the violence.
The state’s top authorities swung into action soon after chief minister Yogi Adityanath held a meeting with Arvind Kumar and DGP OP Singh on Friday night.
The meeting was held after the submission of a report by the ADG intelligence SB Shirodkar regarding the December 3 violence.
Meanwhile, Jeetendra’s elder brother Dharmendra Malik and his (Jeetendra’s) wife Priyanka claimed that he was being falsely implicated in the case.