New Delhi: A Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Uttar Pradesh has said police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh may have became a target of mob violence in Bulandshahr because the team he was leading had not been able to stop cattle smuggling and slaughter.
Meerut MP Rajendra Agrawal’s comment comes only days after Bulandshahr MP Bhola Ram stood up for the prime accused in the policeman’s killing, Bajrang Dal member Yogeshraj Singh. According to Ram, Yogeshraj was doing “noble and eye-opening work”.
Agrawal seems to be following a similar argument. He told the Indian Express, “Whatever has happened in Bulandshahr on December 3 leading to the death of the Siana Station House Officer in mob lynching is highly deplorable. But the probe team should also include within its purview why no action was taken by the SHO in connection with the FIR lodged regarding cow smuggling at the Siana police station before the violence.”
“If cow slaughter has been declared by UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath as a serious crime, then we will have to look into the working of police stations, including Siana, over a broader time period. If we have to uproot the menace of cow slaughter, we will have to look at all aspects, down to the police station level,” Agrawal said.
The MP and former RSS pracharak told Indian Express that some policemen and officials were standing in the way of Adityanath’s “long-cherished dream” of ending cattle slaughter. I am not saying that all officers are corrupt but there are definitely some who have an agenda to denigrate the image of the BJP government for their vested political and monetary interests,” Agrawal said.
Also read: In Bulandshahr, Where Yogi Sees ‘Accident’, Locals See Conspiracy
The MPs’ comments do not stand out when compared to the BJP state government’s official line. A day after the mob violence and the policeman’s death, Adityanath ordered a probe into the alleged cow slaughter but did not say anything about the policeman’s death. “Tough action needs to be taken against those who carried out cow slaughter,” the official release on the chief minister’s meeting with top officials said.
When Adityanath finally broke his silence on the inspector’s killing two days later, he called it an “accident”. The chief minister met Subodh Kumar Singh’s family only three days after his death.
The police is also following the state government’s priorities. Additional superintendent of police (Bulandshahr) Rayees Akhtar said the main concern was to find out who killed the cows. “After all, it was the killing of the cows that led to the protest, which resulted in inspector Subodh Kumar Singh’s murder. Our belief is that once we solve that case, it will throw light on how the murder occurred. The cow-killers are our top priority. The murder and rioting case is on the backburner for now.”