Army jawan Jitendra Malik alias Jeetu Fauji, arrested for his alleged involvement in the killing of a police inspector during mob violence in Bulandshahr last Monday, was sent to jail on 14 days’ judicial custody on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the UP government removed an additional superintendent of police in Bulandshahr, the fourth police officer to be shunted out in the last two days.
Director General of Police OP Singh said the situation in the district was peaceful now. “Peaceful atmosphere prevails in Bulandshahr. Law and order is good,” he told reporters in Shirdi.
Jeetu Fauji was handed over to Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force in Meerut on Saturday night after his detention in Jammu and Kashmir by 22 Rashtriya Rifles in Sopore town. He was taken to the district hospital for medical examination and later produced before the magistrate who sent him to jail for 14 days.
Sources in the STF said that the army man would be taken on police remand for further interrogation.
The Army man was interrogated by the crime branch during the day and also questioned by the Special Investigation Team constituted by the UP government to probe the incident Sources disclosed that Jeetu Fauji admitted that he was present at the spot of the violence on the fateful day but denied that he had opened fire and killed Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh.
Brother of the army man, Dharmendra, has rubbished the police claim that Jeetu was involved in the killing. Jeetu Fauji’s wife Priyanka has also claimed that her husband was with her in the market at the time of the incident.
“Jitendra Malik accepted that he was there when the crowd started gathering at the spot. Prima facie, it has been found true. It has not yet been ascertained if he is the one who shot the Inspector or Sumit. He said he went there with villagers, but denied pelting stones at police. Forensic examination of his mobile phone will be done,” the police said.
Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh and 20-year-old Sumit were killed, when a mob attacked policemen after cattle carcasses were found in the fields on December 3. A total of nine people have already been arrested in the case.
Earlier in the day, the UP government transferred Raees Akhtar, who was posted as ASP (Rural) in Bulandshahr, six days after two people died in mob violence in the district following an alleged cow slaughter incident.
In a statement issued here, Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar said Akhtar had been transferred to PAC Headquarters in Lucknow.
Manish Mishra, posted as ASP at modern control room, in Ghaziabad, has been made the new ASP (Rural) of Bulandshahr.
On Saturday, the government had transferred Bulandshahr’s SSP Krishna Bahadur Singh and attached him to the DGP office in Lucknow. He was replaced by Sitapur SP Prabhakar Chaudhary. A day earlier, Circle Officer of Syana police area Satya Prakash Sharma and Chingravati police outpost in-charge Suresh Kumar were also shifted.
The officers were shifted on the basis of ADG (Intelligence) SB Shirodkar’s report, which reportedly mentioned that had the cops acted promptly, the untoward incident could have been averted.