Omar Rashid 
New Delhi: Facing accusations of targeting backward caste Yadavs and going easy on dominant caste Thakurs, the Uttar Pradesh police on Monday, September 23 shot dead an accused from the Thakur community in an alleged “encounter” in connection with a dacoity in a jewellery shop in Sultanpur.
Anuj Pratap Singh was shot dead by the Special Task Force of the UP police in Unnao, said police. He was killed 18 days after the UP STF shot dead Mangesh Yadav in a controversial “encounter” – the authenticity of which was questioned by the Yadav youth’s family as well as opposition parties.
Both Mangesh and Anuj were accused in the August 28 dacoity that took place in a jewellery shop in Sultanpur. Police claimed that the two men were among the five persons who carried out the dacoity in daylight.
Anuj Pratap Singh’s killing comes in the wake of allegations that the Adityanath-led government was shielding accused persons belonging to the Thakur community.
SP Unnao Deepak Bhuker said that Anuj was shot in an “encounter” with the STF in Unnao’s Achalganj.
He was injured and taken to a community health centre and then the district hospital, where doctors declared him dead, said the officer.
UP Police at the site of the ‘encounter’.
The SP added that a second accused who was travelling with Anuj on a motorcycle managed to escape from the scene. Interestingly, even in the Mangesh Yadav “encounter,” a second accused, as claimed by the STF, had managed to escape safely, taking advantage of the cover of darkness.
Further details of the alleged “encounter” killing are still awaited.
Also read: Snatching Phones, Stealing Bikes: The Crimes of UP Police-Designated ‘Gangster’ Mangesh Yadav
Mangesh’s killing on September 5 was met with allegations by opposition parties – especially the Samajwadi Party – that the police under the Adityanath-led government was targeting Yadavs.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav had alleged that the police killed Mangesh due to his caste background, while the other accused in the same crime belonging to other communities, especially dominant castes, were spared or arrested in the usual way. The top brass of the state police, however, denied allegations of taking action against criminals on the basis of their caste.
Akhilesh Yadav even went to the extent of accusing the UP STF of being a “Special Thakur Force” and a “Sareaam Thoko Force” (Openly Kill Force, translated from Hindi). On September 18, Yadav also shared on social media a graph highlighting the caste composition of the STF. According to his analysis, out of the 21 officers in the STF, only two belonged to OBC and Dalit communities although our face-check shows that there was at least one more officer from the so-called PDA communities (Pichda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak).
“Those with a population of 10% have 90% deployment while those who make up 90% of the population have only 10% deployment. This means that there is a specific purpose for the use of this force, due to which such deployment has been made,” said Yadav.
Prior to Mangesh’s “encounter,” police had arrested three persons – Sachin Singh, Pushpendra Singh and Tribhuvan Kori – after shooting them in the leg in an alleged “encounter”. But what bothered the opposition most was that the main accused in the dacoity, Vipin Singh, surrendered before a court in Rae Bareli a day after the Sultanpur dacoity in connection with another case. The opposition alleged that Singh, who belongs to the dominant Thakur community and was the alleged kingpin, was strategically allowed to surrender while Mangesh, whose family alleged that he was picked up by police two days before he was shot dead, was eliminated in a “fake encounter.”
This alleged theory of the opposition that the government was targeting Yadavs was furthered strengthened when on September 11 police arrested four other accused persons – Durgesh Pratap, Vinay Shukla, Arvind Yadav and Vivek Singh – after intercepting the SUV in which they were travelling, but on September 20 shot in the leg another Yadav youth and co-accused Ajay Yadav alias ‘DM’.
The police have so far arrested eight persons, including four who were shot in the leg, and shot dead two persons in connection with the August 28 dacoity. The 11th accused, Vipin Singh, surrendered before a court.
Three other accused persons are still at large. Police said they recovered two pistols of 32 bore and a bag with four kilograms of silver from Anuj Pratap Singh, who carried a bounty of Rs 1 lakh following the Sultanpur dacoity.
After Anuj Pratap Singh was gunned down, his father Dharamraj Singh took a caustic dig at Akhilesh Yadav and accused him of provoking his son’s “encounter” killing. Talking to a reporter in his native Amethi, Dharamraj Singh said, “At least Akhilesh Yadav ji‘s desire has been fulfilled with the ‘encounter’ of a Thakur,” he said.