With the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and ADG (Intelligence) SB Shirodkar starting their respective probes into the Bulandshahr violence, the local police arrested four of the 17 persons named in the FIR.
However, mastermind and Bajrang Dal district convenor Yogesh Raj was still on the lam along with two other accused with affiliations with Hindu outfits.
Interestingly, ADG (Law and Order) Anand Kumar, while informing about the four arrests, did not name any Hindu outfit for being responsible for the bloody violence. He only told media persons that six teams have been formed to nab the named accused and nearly 60 unidentified persons.
About the video of the violence released on social media, Kumar said that the SIT was looking into all aspects, including allegations that fellow cops fled the scene of crime leaving the inspector at the mob's mercy.
The ADG also confirmed that two separate FIRs, one for cow slaughter and the other for violence leading to the deaths of the inspector and the youth were registered. He said that action would be taken as per the footage available with them and that no innocent would be booked.
Besides, Bajrang Dal convenor Yogesh Raj, VHP activist Upendra Raghav and former city chief of BJYM Shikhar Agarwal, who were named for instigating the mob, were absconding.
Kumar added that inspector Subodh Kumar Singh was the IO in Akhlaq lynching case at Dadri (Ghaziabad) from September 28, 2015, till November 9, 2015, but the chargesheet was filled by a different IO in March, 2016.
"Tension is giving way to normalcy in Bulandshahr and efforts are on to ensure that there is no recurrence of any trouble. Additional security forces have been deployed in the area to maintain peace," the ADG said.
Citing the autopsy report, Kumar pointed out: "Though inspector Singh and Sumit died of gun shot injuries, the cop, who headed Syana police station, also suffered injuries from hard and blunt objects."
Meanwhile, emotions ran high as the aggrieved families prepared for the last rites of their dear ones. Inspector Singh's body, draped in tricolour, was given a gun salute and the body was taken from Bulandshahr to his ancestral home in Etah. Slain cop's son Abhishek tearfully said: "My father has lost his life in this Hindu-Muslim dispute. Whose father is next? I last spoke to him when he called to enquire whether I studied and had my dinner a day before."
Demanding a 'martyr' status for the slain inspector, his sister alleged that his killing was a conspiracy of the police. "My brother was killed in a police conspiracy as he was probing a cow slaughter case. A memorial be constructed in his name at our native place," Sunita Singh told reporters.
"My brother has given his life for the cow protection. The CM blabbers 'gau.. gau.. gau' all the time. Why can't he come for 'gau raksha'?" an emotional Sunita Singh asked.
Meanwhile, in Chingrawati village, Sumit's family refused to carry out the last rites until the government assured a Rs 50 lakh compensation, pension to his parents and a police job to his kin.
Bulandshahr MP Bhola Singh and local MLA Devendra Lodhi, both from the BJP, visited Sumit's family in Chingrawati. Lodhi accused the district administration and police of improper handling of the case.
