Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh police had so far been known for its excess, but now it has managed to not only hoodwink chief minister Adityanath but also get away with murder – literally.
Two weeks have passed since Adityanath ordered the suspension of Mahoba district police chief Manilal Patidar, who was also to be booked for the murder of businessman Indra Kant Tripathi.
Mahoba is in Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region.
However, neither the Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by Adityanath, nor the top cops asked to look into the case have cared to track down Patidar. No case of murder has yet been registered against him.
Manilal Patidar in 2019. Photo: Twitter/@ANI
A 2014-batch IPS officer, Patidar was posted as district police chief of Mahoba a few months ago in what was his first deputation. A backward district, Mahoba’s economy rests on mining – both legal and illegal – which has resulted in an ecosystem of extortion, in which Patidar allegedly played an integral role.
Many mining contractors of the region have made pointed allegations of extortion and criminal intimidation against the young police officer. Among them was the murdered Tripathi, who accused Patidar of demanding a monthly pay-off of Rs 6 lakhs. He uploaded a video on social media, on September 5, alleging that the SP had threatened him with dire consequences if the money was not paid regularly.
Three days later on September 8, Tripathi was found in a pool of blood with a bullet wound near his neck inside his SUV on the outskirts of Mahoba town. He was hospitalised.
No sooner than the story hit the headlines, Adityanath ordered the suspensions of Patidar and the inspector of Kabrai police station, Devendra Shukla.
FIRs were also lodged against both of them under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and for ‘attempt to murder’. Meanwhile, Tripathi succumbed to the bullet wounds five days later. Adityanath then directed that the two policemen be booked for murder too.
However, the SIT chief Vijay Singh Meena as well as the zonal additional director general of police Prem Prakash have instead gone on a “protect Patidar” campaign.
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Patidar has been at large for more than two weeks and police have used COVID-19 as a cover-up for their inability to capture him. “Patidar’s lawyer has conveyed to us that he has tested COVID-19 positive and is therefore in isolation somewhere,” Prem Prakash told a specially convened press conference, precisely 14 days after the murder.
He said he was ignorant on Patidar’s whereabouts and also described the inspector as “absconding”.
Prakash also, pertinently, said that the 44-year-old “was shot by his own weapon.” By adding that “there was no other person in the car when he was shot,” the ADG has clearly attempted to imply that Tripathi had died by suicide.
When asked as to what could have led Tripathi to shoot himself, Prakash said, “The evidence gathered so far indicates that the businessman was suffering from some kind of depression.”
As if to corroborate Prakash’s line, the SIT had also produced visual of Tripathi playing cards – which came in handy to allege that he gambled.
The SIT appointed to look into the murder appears at this point to be keen on finding ways to put the deceased on the dock.
Several serious objections about the investigation have already been brought to the notice of top police officials by Tripathi’s nephew Krishna Kant Tripathi. Traders of Mahoba have also come forward to echo Tripathi’s complaints against Patidar.
