New Delhi: At a time when the Uttar Pradesh government is under fire for allegedly targeting Yadavs, police in Sultanpur shot in the leg of another person from the community in an alleged encounter on September 20, two weeks after a Yadav youth Mangesh Yadav was shot dead in a similar fashion in connection with a dacoity case.
Police said they shot Ajay Yadav alias DM in an alleged “encounter” after a bike he was travelling on was allegedly intercepted by police. He was injured and arrested.
The bike carrying two suspects was seen going towards Ambedkar Nagar when police, which had set up a checkpost, asked them to stop. The suspects fired at the police team, said the UP Special Task Force, which was part of the operation.
“They fired at the police with the intent to kill,” Superintendent of Police Sultanpur Somen Barma said, adding that one of the suspects, Ajay Yadav, was shot in the leg in retaliatory firing in self-defence.
Similar claims made by cops in both cases
The second suspect, whose identity is unknown, managed to flee from the scene making use of the cover of darkness, said the STF. Incidentally, on September 5 when Mangesh Yadav was shot dead by the STF, police had claimed there was a second suspect with him on the bike and that he too managed to escape.
Mangesh Yadav and Ajay Yadav were both among the accused in the August 28 dacoity crime that took place at the shop of a prominent jewellery store in Sultanpur.
Police said they recovered 4 kg of stolen silver from Ajay Yadav, who had carried a bounty of Rs 1 lakh after the August 28 dacoity.
Till now, police have arrested nine persons associated with the crime and shot dead one accused. Five of them, including two Yadavs, were nabbed in police “encounters”. This includes Mangesh Yadav, who was killed.
Police have said that they successfully cracked the case and recovered 2.25 kg of stolen gold and over 25 kilos of silver from the arrested persons.
The first arrests in connection with the daylight dacoity, which embarrassed the Yogi Adityanath administration, took place on the intervening night of September 2 and 3, when police shot three persons in the leg in an alleged “encounter.”
Opposition alleges that Thakur man was allowed to surrender
These persons were identified as Sachin Singh, Tribhuvan Kori and Pushpendra Singh. The main accused in the dacoity, Vipin Singh, had just a day after the dacoity surrendered before a court in Rae Bareli in connection to another previously-registered case, provoking the Opposition to accuse the government of strategically allowing him, a dominant caste Thakur, to surrender, while shooting dead a Yadav co-accused.
On September 10, police said they recovered 1.2 kgs of gold from Vipin Singh that he had kept in a steel box that was hidden in a field. A day later, police arrested four other accused persons–Durgesh Pratap, Vinay Shukla, Arvind Yadav and Vivek Singh – after intercepting the SUV in which they were travelling. Police alleged that the same SUV was used by the accused persons as a getaway vehicle after the crime.
Mangesh and Ajay Yadav were co-accused in several other bike theft cases lodged by the police in 2021 and 2022. In May 2022, police also slapped the Gangsters Act against Mangesh and Ajay Yadav in connection with two FIRs related to a bike theft and mobile snatching. The police had accused Mangesh of being a member of a “gang” run by Ajay Yadav.
The Opposition led by Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has accused the police under the BJP government of going easy on Thakurs while targeting Yadavs in “fake encounters.”
UP Director General of Police Prashant Kumar, last week, however dismissed all allegations of taking action on the basis of caste of alleged criminals. He said the police had taken action in the Sultanpur case only on the basis of “evidence” and in an “impartial” manner.
