Uttar Pradesh police killed one more alleged criminal, Sujeet Singh Jat, in Meerut on Saturday. Meerut police told The Hindu that he was a prime suspect in the murders of three people from the same family and carried a reward of ₹50,000.
Meerut Superintendent of Police (SP)-Rural Rajesh Kumar said that police received a tip-off on on the presence of wanted criminals in the Suroorpur area on Saturday.
“A police team, including the Suroorpur SHO (Station House Officer) Dharmendra Kumar reached the spot. Seeing the police vehicle, some criminals started firing at the police party. Kumar received bullet injuries. The police fired at them [the alleged criminals] in defence, in which Sujeet was hit by a bullet and died. Sujeet’s friend fled from the scene through the jungle,” Mr. Rajesh Kumar said.
“A pistol and a motorbike has been recovered from the spot. We are trying to find out more about his friend who fled from the scene,” he added.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP)-Meerut Zone Ramkumar Verma had on February 17 announced a reward ₹50,000 on Sujeet, a resident of Hasanpur Razapur.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP)-Meerut Manzil Saini told the media that Sujeet was the prime suspect in the killing of Chetan, a resident of Hasanpur Razapur, on July 17, 2016.
“Early this year, the two main witnesses the Chetan murder case, Savitri and her son-in-law Babloo, were killed. Savitri was killed on February 3, 2018, and on February 11, Babloo were killed. Sujeet was prime suspect in all these three killings,” Ms. Saini said.
The State police has gunned down 41 alleged criminals in over 1,200 encounters so far, inviting three notices from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) asking the Yogi Adityanath government to explain the State’s stance on encounters. Chief Minister Adityanath on February 15 defended police encounters and told the State Assembly that they would not stop.
In its third notice to the Sate government, the NHRC said, “The Commission has observed that it seems police personnel in UP are feeling free, misusing their power in the light of an undeclared endorsement given by the higher-ups. They are using their privileges to settle scores with the people. The police force is to protect the people. These kind of incidents would send a wrong message to the society. Creating an atmosphere of fear is not the correct way to deal with the crime.”
