Fellow traders and kin of two brothers, who were shot dead in a sensational shoot-out in Kudebhar locality of Pratapgarh on Wednesday night, staged a huge road blockade demanding removal of all cops from the local police station. The agitators alleged that they failed to provide security to the victims despite repeated requests. Both victims were killed just for not paying up ‘protection money’.
To defuse the situation, DGP OP Singh suspended the Station House Officer holding him responsible for the incident.
Ironically, the DGP on last Tuesday claimed that the state witnessed a sharp decline in sensational crimes including kidnappings and extortion.
Reacting to the episode, Chief minister Yogi Adityanath also announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family members of the brothers and directed that the erring cops be punished within the next 24-hours. Yogi also instructed the police to arrest the culprits and take stern action.
Meanwhile, the victims’ family members and even local MlA claimed that they had informed the police about threat calls to the victims at least two months back and even met senior officers urging them to extend police protection till the accused were arrested.
They lamented that none of the officers acted promptly and only kept on dishing out assurances of arresting the accused. As a result, the criminals struck with impunity and killed the two traders thereby sendinga message to the business community to cought up money as and when they were asked or face the music.
As per reports, Shyam Sunder Jaiswal (55) and Shyam Murat Jaiswal (48) closed their building material shop in Kudebhar area and left for their home on Wednesday night when unidentified bike-borne assailants stopped them and opened indiscriminate fire before speeding off. Both victims were rushed to district hospital where they were pronounced dead upon arrival. Soon after, hundreds of traders and the victims’ family members converged at the spot and blocked traffic movement on Allahabad-Faizabad highway causing a huge traffic jam. They demanded removal of all cops posted at the local police station.
The family claimed that some criminals had made a call to the bothers and demanded Rs 10 lakh as protection money two months back. Assessing that a stir by the business community could spell trouble for him, DGP OP Singh announced the suspension of SHO of Kudebhar police station Nagendra Singh Nagar. Heavy police force was sent to the spot and IG of Allahabad Range Ramit Sharma, ADG of Allahabad Zone, SN Sabat and other officers were rushed to the spot to defuse the situation. The agiutated traders called off their stir on the assurance thatthe culprits would be arrested soon and action would be taken action against the lax cops.