Over one dozen policemen, including two Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs), five Station House Officers (SHOs) and City Magistrate of Noida were kept hostage by family members of slain Samajwadi Party leader Anil Kumar Yadav in the city on Thursday night.
The officials were kept in confinement as they failed to trace the accused, Heena Khan, even after four days of incident. Yadav (28), a senior office bearer of SP, had found dead under mysterious circumstances in his flat in Noida’s Sector 71 on Thursday night. The policemen were released when they gave written assurance to arrest the murderers and accept other demands of the family. Meanwhile, the accused is still at large.
The incident took place when police reached Bahlolpur area in Sector 62 to pacify the angry mob, who were demanding breakthrough in the case. The protesters, including scores of party workers, family and neighbours of Anil had blocked the area to intensify their protest. When senior police officials reached the area, they were held hostage. They alleged that the administration is protecting the accused woman as she has close links in State bureaucracy. The situation deteriorated when mob stopped officials to use mobile phones for communicating with their seniors and forced them to assure in written to recommend the CBI probe in this case, suspend the SHO of Sector 48 police station, arm licences to family members of deceased leader and immediate arrest of Heena.
The seriousness of the matter was judged from the fact that the hostage officials used WhatsApp and other social sites to talk to seniors to avoid wrath of the people. The angry mob also threatened to jam NH24 if police failed to act swiftly. Sunil Yadav, deceased’s brother, blamed that police is shielding the woman as she enjoys support of senior bureaucrats. “We had informed police that Heena, along with her accomplices, was present at a place but instead of nabbing her police tried to mislead us. They came in action only when she fled after dumping the vehicle,” said Sunil. Meanwhile, police investigation has revealed that the accused woman has earlier been arrested by Ghaziabad Police in a case of fake currency racket linked with Pakistan and Bangladesh. “We are investigating the matter and we will trace the woman as soon as possible,” said Vishwajeet Shriwastav, DSP of Noida.