Bulandshahr top cop removed for 'negligence in handling situation'

Lucknow: Six days after police officer Subodh Kumar Singh and a local youth were killed in mob violence over cow carcasses in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr, the top officer in the district has been transferred.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Krishna Bahadur Singh has been transferred to DGP headquarters in Lucknow and has been replaced by the Superintendent of Police of Sitapur, Prabhakar Chaudhary.

Two other police officers have also been transferred. Syana Circle Officer Satya Prakash Sharma has been transferred to Police Training College Moradabad while In-charge of Chingravathi police chowki Suresh Kumar has been transferred to Lalitpur.

According to reports, the policemen were transferred ‘for their failure in responding in time to the situation’ arising in Siyana village of Bulandshahr on December 3, Monday.

The transfer has taken place after a high-level meeting was presided over by the Director General of Police (DGP) OP Singh, who had handed over the report to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on his arrival from New Delhi.

Police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh and his team had gone to the village on Monday to tackle a furious mob when they came under attack.

On video, mob is seen chasing the policemen and shouting: "Maaro (attack), take his gun!"

The post-mortem report said that Subodh Kumar Singh was attacked with a sharp weapon before being shot in the head.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday called the Bulandshahr incident an "accident".

Earlier, he had said the incident was result of a "big conspiracy" but at a media event in Delhi on Friday, he said that the incident was actually an accident.

"Uttar Pradesh mein koi mob lynching ki ghatna nahi hui hai... Bulandshahr mein jo hua wo ek durghatna thi… Kanoon apna kaam kar raha hai...kisi ki bakhsha nahi jayega. (No mob lynching took place in Uttar Pradesh. What happened in Bulandshahr was a case of accident. Law is taking its own course and the guilty will not be spared.)," he said.

The police have arrested eight accused in the case.