Yogesh Raj, the main accused in the Bulandshahr violence in which a police inspector and a youth were killed, claimed he had not even been at the spot when the clashes broke out but the police were trying to frame him.
In a video shared on instant messaging app Whatsapp, Yogesh Raj, who has shaved off his moustache and beard and swapped his kurta and stole imprinted with ‘Jai Shri Ram’ for a pink shirt, alleged that the police were projecting him as a dreaded criminal.
The Bajrang Dal’s district convener claimed that he was not present at Chingrawathi where violent protests broke out against alleged cow slaughter in Mahaw village of the district, but at the Syana police station where he had gone to register the FIR about the incident.
“I have faith in the Almighty and He will give me justice,” he said in the video.
The video drew the opposition’s renewed attack on the Yogi Adityanath government for its failure to nab Raj even while his video was being circulated with impunity. While four accused have been arrested, Raj heads the list of 28 people named in the FIR lodged by police after the Monday’s violence. Inspector general of police, Meerut range, Ramkumar said, “We are after him.”
Reports of alleged cow slaughter from Mahaw village, near Bulandshahr, on Sunday night had triggered the violent clashes a day later. Police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, who had been the investigating officer in the Akhlaq lynching case of Dadri in 2015, and a 21-year-old villager, identified as Sumit, died of gunshot wounds as a mob went on the rampage while protesting against alleged illegal cow slaughter.
First Published: Dec 05, 2018 18:48 IST
Source: HindustanTimes