Accused posts video; state, cops focus on cow slaughter

It was a conspiracy and we are probing why that particular day – Dec 3 – and place on which the cows were slaughtered... in the field were selected

OP SINGH , director general of police

BULANDSHAHR/LUCKNOW: An absconding Bajrang Dal activist ,the prime suspect in the violence that rocked Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr this week, defended himself on Wednesday, claiming he wasn’t present when the clashes between police and a local mob left a police inspector and a villager dead.

In a video message circulated on television channels and social media, Yogesh Raj said he wasn’t a witness to the alleged slaughter of cows that sparked the violence on Monday. Raj claimed he reached the village of Mahaw, where the alleged slaughter took place, after receiving information from his associates, raising questions about the authenticity of an FIR purportedly filed by him in the cow slaughter case.

The video clip came on a day the Uttar Pradesh police hinted at a “conspiracy” behind the mob violence and chief minister Yogi Adityanath ordered strict action against cow slaughter, unlawful trade in cattle and ille- gal slaughterhouses.

His instructions were conveyed by chief secretary Anup Pandey to magistrates and superintendents of police of all 75 districts through a video link, an official release said. Adityanath said the district magistrate and other senior police officials of a district will be held personally responsible for any lapse.