The wife of gangster Munna Bajrangi on Tuesday demanded a CBI probe into the murder of her husband inside the Baghpat jail.
Accusing the Uttar Pradesh government and officials of being part of the murder ‘conspiracy’, Seema Singh said her husband was forcibly taken out of Jhansi jail, where he was lodged and had recently survived an attempt at poisoning, and taken to Baghpat in a ‘planned manner’.
She alleged that former BSP MP from Jaunpur Dhananjay Singh, himself a tainted politician, led the conspiracy along with others.
“The government and administration have supported them because there was no reason to take him to Baghpat. He was forcibly taken to Baghpat because it was planned that he would be taken there and murdered,” Ms. Singh told a Hindi news channel.
She also dismissed reports that her husband was shot dead with his own weapon, arguing that it would not have been possible for him to carry a weapon while being shifted from one jail to another under high security.
Ms. Singh had at a press conference on June 29 flagged a threat to Bajrangi’s life.
She had requested Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to step up her husband’s security.
“After I flagged the threat of encounter, they changed tactics and did it (murder) inside the jail,” said Ms. Singh.
Prem Prakash Singh alias Munna Bajrangi, a notorious gangster from Jaunpur, was on Monday shot dead inside the Baghpat jail by a fellow inmate and mobster, Sunil Rathi.
After the murder, Rathi threw the weapon into a drain. The police recovered the pistol -- a 7.62 bore -- late on Monday evening after an extensive search. Ten used cartridges, 22 live bullets and two magazines were also recovered, said ADG (Law and Order) Anand Kumar.
No lapse
The State government has initiated a judicial probe. On Ms. Singh’s allegations, U.P. DGP O.P. Singh said that her statement would be scrutinised and probed. “It will be made a part of the investigation and appropriate action will be taken,” he said.
There was no lapse in the police security given to Bajrangi, he added.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav criticised the Yogi Adityanath government, saying the murder was an example of the missing law and order in the State.
“There is an atmosphere of terror in the State. Criminals are so emboldened that they are committing murders even inside jails...The State never witnessed a phase of such chaos and misrule,” he tweeted.
Cremated amid security
Meanwhile, Bajrangi was cremated at Varanasi’s Manikarnika Ghat on Tuesday amid tight security in the presence of a large number of his sympathisers.
His teenage son Samir Singh lit the pyre as the State police, Provincial Armed Constabulary and Local Intelligence Unit jawans ensured there was no law and order situation.
