After Bulandshahr BJP MP Bhola Ram supported the Bajrang Dal activist seen as the main accused in the incident, another MP from Meerut blamed SHO Subodh Kumar Singh for failing to check cow slaughter and cattle smuggling in his area.
Image Courtesy: PTI
Bulandshahr: On Thursday, Bulandshahr BJP MP Bholaram claimed that Bajrang Dal activist Yogeshraj Singh, the main accused in the killing of Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, and who is on the run, was doing “noble and eye-opening work”. “Expressing your support for stricter cow slaughter laws is not a crime. He was doing noble and eye-opening work. He brought to my attention that such an incident has occurred. Rest is a matter of investigation,” the MP had said.
More party politicians who agree with Bholaram’s rhetoric are now coming out of the woodworks. Another BJP MP pointed fingers at the slain policeman. Meerut MP Rajendra Agrawal told The Indian Express Sunday that the team investigating the violence last Monday should also check whether the SHO became a target because the station under his charge allegedly failed to check cow slaughter and cattle smuggling.
“Whatever has happened in Bulandshahr on December 3 leading to the death of the Siana Station House Officer in mob lynching is highly deplorable. But the probe team should also include within its purview why no action was taken by the SHO in connection with the FIR lodged regarding cow smuggling at the Siana police station before the violence,” Agarwal said in the report.
“If cow slaughter has been declared by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as a serious crime, then we will have to look into the working of police stations, including Siana, over a broader time period. If we have to uproot the menace of cow slaughter, we will have to look at all aspects, down to the police station level,” Agrawal said in the report.
“Putting a strict check on incidents of cow slaughter in the state is a dream of Yogi Adityanathji but some officers at the higher level and policemen down at the police stations are posing hindrances to the CM’s long-cherished dream. I am not saying that all officers are corrupt but there are definitely some who have an agenda to denigrate the image of the BJP government for their vested political and monetary interests,” claimed Agrawal, a former RSS pracharak in the report.
“I have lodged complaints of cow slaughter in areas under the Kithore and Bhawanpur police stations but the higher-ups have not paid any heed to my concerns,” he claimed.
When contacted, the officers in charge of both the stations denied the MP’s claims.
BJP state government’s official stance on the matter doesn’t differ much from Agrawal’s. A day after the mob violence and the policeman’s death, Adityanath ordered a probe into the alleged cow slaughter but did not say anything about the policeman’s death. “Tough action needs to be taken against those who carried out cow slaughter,” the official release on the chief minister’s meeting with top officials said.
“When Adityanath finally broke his silence on the inspector’s killing two days later, he called it an “accident”. The chief minister met Subodh Kumar Singh’s family only three days after his death,” a report said.
“The police is also following the state government’s priorities. Additional superintendent of police (Bulandshahr) Rayees Akhtar said the main concern was to find out who killed the cows. “After all, it was the killing of the cows that led to the protest, which resulted in inspector Subodh Kumar Singh’s murder. Our belief is that once we solve that case, it will throw light on how the murder occurred. The cow-killers are our top priority. The murder and rioting case is on the backburner for now,” The Wire reported.
On December 3, Station House Inspector (SHO) Subodh Kumar Singh and a youth was murdered when Singh was trying to placate an angry mob which had gathered at the police station to protest cow slaughter. Apparently, over two dozen cow carcasses were found in a village field in western UP. The incident has caused nationwide outrage over the lawlessness in the state.