Officer Subodh Kumar Singh, who was killed during mob violence in Bulandshahr earlier this month, was hit with a sharp axe first, assaulted with stones and sticks before being shot dead, new information on the incident revealed on Friday.
The police on Thursday arrested Prashant Natt, the person they claimed shot dead officer Singh after snatching his service pistol. They are now trying to nab others who assaulted the officer before he was shot.
Tried to burn him
The mob also tried to burn the officer’s body, which was hanging by the door of his official jeep in the middle of the fields in Syana, said SSP Bulandshahr Prabhakar Chaudhary.
The police are on the lookout for accused Kalua, who allegedly attacked the officer first with an axe, causing him deep injury.
“The mob became violent after that,” said Mr. Chaudhary, adding that 4-5 persons were involved in the killing of the officer.
Johny, the accused who snatched the officer’s pistol, is under arrest.
The police said Natt was arrested on the basis of eyewitness accounts, videos of the incident and intelligence information gathered. His name was deliberately avoided in the FIR as part of a strategy to nab him, officers said.
Mr. Chaudhary said Natt had been the main suspect from day one and his family fled from Bulandshahr soon after the incident.
The officer also said that Singh shot at the mob in self-defence before being overpowered.
SP Bulandshahr (City) Atul Srivastava said Natt had “confessed to his involvement in the incident and shooting the bullet that killed” Singh.
Natt’s brother Moolchand, however, said Prashant was innocent and did not shoot the officer.
“He is being falsely implicated because the police is yet to nab the main conspirators,” said Moolchand, adding that his brother surrendered before the police on December 25 and was not arrested as claimed by the police.
Singh was shot dead during mob violence that erupted in the Syana area of Bulandshahr on December 3 after right-wing groups alleged cow slaughter and brought the carcasses to the police outpost in a tractor trolley.
Singh was shot near his left eyebrow by a .32 bore weapon, the police had earlier said on the basis of the autopsy report.
Singh was the investigating officer of the Dadri lynching case of Akhlaq from September 28, 2015, to November 9, 2015.
Bajrang Dal activist Yogesh Raj, who was named as the main instigator in the mob violence as per the FIR, is still absconding; so is BJP Yuva Morcha Bulandshahr city president Shikhar Agarwal.
