New Delhi: The Lucknow residence of suspended inspector Jagat Narayan Singh, an accused in the murder of Kanpur-based businessman Manish Gupta, was bulldozed by civic authorities on Sunday for alleged irregularities in construction.
According to the Times of India, Lucknow Development Authority vice-chairman Akshay Tripathi said authorities were apprised of the “illegal residence” of Singh as part of a drive against unauthorised constructions.
He said that the suspended inspector had “not got the map of his house passed and illegally constructed the three-storey luxurious building” in Devraji Vihar under the Chinhat area of Lucknow, according to the report. A court order had also been issued to demolish the residence the police officer, who is currently in jail.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is investigating the murder of businessman Gupta, filed a chargesheet in January this year invoking criminal conspiracy and murder charges against six Uttar Pradesh police officers – including Singh – from the Ramgarh Tal police station in Gorakhpur.
According to the chargesheet, on September 27, Gupta checked into a hotel room in Gorakhpur when at about midnight, Singh, who was the station house officer of the Ramgarh Tal police station, and the five other police officers entered the room and “started misbehaving with Manish Gupta”.
When Gupta protested, they “started beating him, resulting in grievous injuries to him”. The businessman died on the spot, the chargesheet says.
During the election campaign for the just-concluded assembly elections in the state, chief minister Yogi Adityanth embraced the “baba bulldozer” tag that was used by the Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
“I have sent the bulldozers for repairs. Once they start working again after March 10 (the day results were announced), all those who are hot-headed now will be silenced,” Adityanath said at a rally.
The Wire reported last week that police in razed parts of a house in a Saharanpur village where two rape accused brothers live. They said that the duo was absconding and repeated notices to their house have gone unheeded.
The station house officer of the Chilkana police station, Rajesh Bharti, told The Wire that the police bulldozed some parts of the house because the “walls and gates were too elevated.” “We sent multiple notices to the accused, but they have been absconding. We took the bulldozer so we could break some parts of the house to investigate inside,” he said.
The brothers’ family claimed that the FIR was filed just a few days before part of the house was demolished.