The Special Investigation Teams formed in Uttar Pradesh were functioning like the “Sarkar Bachao Dal” or Government Saviour Teams, Congress state president and MLA Ajay Kumar Lallu alleged on Tuesday.
Mr. Lallu’s scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) U.P. government came hours after it formed a SIT to probe the death of a Mahoba businessman Indrakant Tripathi, who had accused an IPS officer Mani Lal Patidar of threatening to get him killed for not paying extortion money.
The three-member SIT, ordered by Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police, would be headed by Inspector General Varanasi Vijay Singh Meena. The SIT will submit its report in seven days, the government said.
Mr. Patidar was last week booked on charges of allegedly conspiring to murder Mr. Indrakant. A case under attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy and various charges was lodged against Mr. Patidar, then Station House Officer Devendra Shukla, two local businessmen, and unidentified police personnel, on the complaint of the businessman’s brother.
Mr. Patidar was earlier suspended as Superintendent of Police (SP)-Mahoba on charges of alleged corruption and extortion, and a probe was ordered into his assets.
Mr. Lallu lashed out at the government for not arresting the accused and called the incident a “blot” on the law and order in U.P.
“The SIT has become a Sarkar Bachao Dal in UP,” the MLA said, accusing CM Adityanath of providing patronage to “such criminals”.
That the accused were yet to be sent to jail showed that the BJP government was hell-bent on “murder of justice”, he said.
“Why is evidence required for something that is so evident? An SP was running a gang but the Home Department had no inkling about it,” Mr. Lallu said on Twitter.
Mr. Tripathi, a businessman involved in the explosives trade in the mining district, was found shot in the neck in his car last week, days after in a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and through a social media video, he had alleged that SP-Mahoba was threatening to kill him after he refused to pay him ₹6 lakh per month as an extortion sum
Ravikant Tripathi, his brother, reiterated his demand that the accused cops be arrested and his family members be provided security.
“But they are yet to arrest the accused,” he rued. However, asked if he was satisfied with the SIT probe, Mr. Ravikant said he had no complaints so far about the steps taken by the government.
