Two trigger-happy constables shot dead Apple executive who, along with his woman friend, was going in his XUV near Gomti Nagar Extension (Malesamau mazar) under Gomti Nagar police station area on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. The errant cop and his colleague were rounded up and were taken in police custody. They were later summarily terminated from their services.
The incident kicked off a political controversy with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath telling newsmen that it was not an encounter and the accused constables had been terminated. The incident also evoked a stiff protest from family members of the deceased with social media activists pillorying the Lucknow police for its impertinent act and demanded ‘exacting action’ against the errant constable and his colleague.
As per reports, Vivek Tiwari of Ganga Apartments (a residential apartment) in New Hyderabad colony of Mahanagar, along with his friend Sana Khan of Vinay Khand of Gomti Nagar, was on going in their Mahendra XUV. Around 1.30 am on Saturday, when they reached near Maqdoompur police outpost and were on a lone stretch, two constables, who were on a patrol duty, intercepted them asking Tiwari to stop the XUV.
Fear gripped Tiwari when he saw the constables and he tried to speed away at which constable Prashant Chaudhary, deployed at Gomti Nagar police station, fired a bullet while his colleague Sandeep Kumar allegedly incited him to open fire.
The bullet fired from the service pistol first hit the front windscreen of the XUV and then it hit Vivek in his chin. As he slumped down in the vehicle, its accelerator probably was pressed by his foot and it bolted out at a high speed hitting the bike of the accused constables and later rammed against one of the walls of the underpass. Both the constables guessed the wrong deed committed by them and they fled the scene leaving the victim in a pool of blood. His friend Sana stated that she began to cry while trying to seek help from truckers who were passing there.
Meanwhile, a police team reached the place and the victim was rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital where he was declared “brought dead”. In a damage control attempt, the cops propagated conflicting information saying it was unclear that Tiwari died of gunshot or he suffered injuries after the car hit the wall of the underpass.
In his e-byte, SSP Kalanidhi Naithani said the man in the car, who was identified as Vivek, attempted to run the car over the policemen on being asked to stop. “Vivek drove the vehicle and run it over the bike of the constables and damaged it. The eyewitnesses to the incident said the police man fire at the car which hit the front windscreen and hit the man,” he said. The SSP said the car ran ahead and later banged into the wall of an underpass there.
Later, the autopsy report ascertained that the victim suffered gunshot and he died of excessive bleeding.
Senior officials, including IG, Range, Sujit Pandey inspected the scene and talked to pavement dwellers to get the sequence of incident.
The family put the corpse at an open space at Ganga Tower in New Hyderabad locality and denied to perform the last rites demanding the CM to visit their house and announce compensation and action against the errant cops. They demanded Rs 1 crore as compensation, a government job and CBI inquiry into the case.
This ratcheted up pressure on the government with BJP minister Ashutosh Tandon reached the victim’s house to express his sympathy. District Magistrate and SSP also reached the house. The minister and the officers struck a dialogue assuring the family of speedy action and compensation. But the two-hour-long talk with the family members failed to end the deadlock and the family members came out of the flat while raising anti-police and anti-government slogans. They sat around the corpse put in an open space. The deadlock had not ended till the last reports came in.
The government recommended an SIT probe which would be headed by IG, Lucknow Range, Sujit Pandey. Also the SSP assigned Mahanagar SHO Vikas Tripathi to probe into the case.
