Samajwadi Party chief and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, said that when his party would come to power in 2022, it would re-open the Pushpendra Yadav “fake encounter” case and punish those who committed this “gory murder”.
Addressing a press conference in Jhansi on Thursday, the SP chief said that those responsible for Pushpendra’s death, including police officers, would be sent to jail.
“This is my warning to the Bharatiya Janata Party government and the officers as well that those responsible for the death of Pushpendra Yadav that those who orchestrated the crime will be sent to jail after we form government in 2022. The Jhansi police are misleading the people. The matter requires judicial enquiry. The Jhansi police put the dead body on the back seat of a car. If it was an encounter, why were the blood stains found on the back side of the car?” he asked.
“Pushpendra was married three months back .. what is the future of his widow? Once the elections are over, we will hit the roads to ensure justice for Pushpendra Yadav. The attitude of the government is wrong. The entire Jhansi knows what the truth is. Injustice has been done to the family of Pushpendra Yadav,” the SP Chief added.
On Wednesday, Akhilesh Yadav had met the family members of Pushpendra Yadav in Jhansi and had demanded a probe by a sitting High Court judge into his death.
“No one believes the police theory and the sequence of events as told by the Jhansi district administration,” he had said.
Akhilesh Yadav said that Pushpendra’s family had not been given the post-mortem report. “It is surprising that even the last rites were performed by the police without the family members. Is this Ram Rajya?” the SP chief asked.
“Not much should be expected from the police of a state where the Chief Minister openly tell the cops to ‘thok dalo’ (shoot them) those taking law in their hands,” Akhilesh Yadav said and added, “I have no faith in the police and administration of the state.”
According to the Jhansi police, Moth SHO Dharmendra Singh Chauhan had seized a truck belonging to Pushpendra Yadav in a case of illegal mining on September 29. On the night of October 5, Chauhan, who was returning to Jhansi from Kanpur in his private car after a two-day leave, received a call from Pushpendra Yadav regarding his seized truck. Chauhan then reached Bamrauli intersection to meet Pushpendra where he was allegedly shot at as soon as he rolled down the window pane of his car.
Shivangi, Pushpendra Yadav’s widow, rubbished the encounter theory and claimed that Chauhan had killed her husband after the latter threatened to make public a telephonic conversation in which the police officer is allegedly heard asking bribe from him.
“They caught him (Pushpendra) and killed him. If my husband was wrong, the police could have summoned him or sent him to jail… they had his mobile phone number. My husband had already paid Rs 1.5 lakh to the SHO, but he wanted more,” Shivangi alleged.