Victim’s Wife, UP Minister Allege Police Tried to ‘Hush Up’ Vivek Tiwari’s Killing

In the second FIR in the case, Kalpana Tiwari has alleged that Sana Khan, who was with Vivek at the time of the incident, was not allowed to make or receive phone calls, and forced by the police to sign on a blank piece of paper. 

New Delhi: Kalpana Tiwari, whose husband Vivek was shot dead by a police constable in Lucknow on Friday night, has filed a second FIR in the case alleging that Sana Khan, who was with Vivek at the time of the incident, was not allowed to make or receive phone calls, and forced by the police to sign on a blank piece of paper.

The previous FIR was filed by Khan and named constables Prashant Chaudhary, who allegedly shot Vivek, and Sandeep Kumar, who was also at the scene. The policemen claimed that they shot at Vivek in “self-defence”, even though the victim, who worked as assistant sales manager at an Apple store, was unarmed and inside a vehicle.

Quoting Khan, the second FIR filed by Kalpana says, according to Indian Express, “I was with my colleague ASM sir (Tiwari was the Area Sales Manager of Apple), returning home at around 1.30 am when suddenly Prashant Chaudhary and Sandeep Kumar came in front of the car. ASM sir got scared and as he had a female friend with him, he tried to move his car by escaping. At the same time, the constable sitting on the back seat of (their) motorcycle and having a cane in his hand (got off) the motorcycle. Prashant Chaudhary, who was on the front seat, put his pistol against the wind shield and fired with intention to kill.”

“…I cried a lot for help and tried to stop people. I tried my best to save him but the policemen that came neither (were) letting me make (a) call nor receive a call. They pressurized me to sign on a blank paper and later under the pressure of police and media officials made me write on the paper. As I was a lot scared, I wrote whatever they asked me to.”

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Uttar Pradesh minister Brijesh Pathak on Sunday hit out at the state police for showing “laxity” and “hushing up” the killing, and supported Kalpana’s claims in the second FIR.

“The killers deserve to be in jail and they must get stringent punishment. Action should also be initiated against officials who showed laxity in this case and tried to hush up the murder,” Pathak told PTI.

“I will also request the honourable court to hand over the entire matter to a fast-track court so that the aggrieved family can get justice soon. I have also sought time from chief minister Yogi Adityanath so that the aggrieved family can meet him,” he said.

The state law minister expressed “shock” over the fact that even policemen could indulge in such an act.

“The death of Vivek Tiwari has shocked us. Even the police could do such a heinous act, I did not expect,” he said.

Pathak also talked about the various anomalies reported in the case.

“The lone eyewitness was kept in police custody for nearly 17 hours and her signature was taken on a plain piece of paper. The FIR was not registered in the way it should had been. There is no consistency between the statement of Sana (who was accompanying the victim) and the FIR. And efforts were made to hush up the case,” he said.

The minister also hit out at those police officials who tried to safeguard the accused cop.

BJP MLA Rajni Tiwari has also alleged that the administration and police acted insensitively in the case, ANI reported.

Chief minister Adityanath, who has openly supported police encounter killings in the past, said that this was a “sad incident” and immediate action had been taken.

Two constables have been arrested on the basis of an FIR lodged by Khan.