A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has started a probe into the killing of an Apple executive Vivek Tiwari in police firing in Lucknow on Saturday. The killing of the young man sent shock waves across the State and pressure is mounting on police bosses to punish cops involved in the alleged brutal “murder”.
The 38-year-old executive of a private company who was allegedly shot dead by a trigger-happy constable while he was going to drop his colleague Sana Khan in Gomti Nagar here was on Sunday cremated in presence of Uttar Pradesh Ministers and family members at Bhaisakund.
Giving details, ADG Lucknow Zone Rajeev Krishna said the team collected details from the crime scene during the investigation. “The aim of the investigation is to collect corroborative and scientific evidence to reach to a conclusion in the case,” he said.
The SIT led by IG Lucknow Range Sujit Pandey visited the crime scene and Gomti Nagar police station on Sunday morning.
IG Lucknow range and SIT head Sujit Pandey said the team studied the dents in the walls of the underpass to examine what would be the speed of the vehicle at the time of incident. “We observed tyre marks on the road. The forensic team which helped in collection of evidences had been asked to find out the reason behind the same.
“We are also trying to find out the exact sequence of incident. The team spotted blood trail between the place where the car was initially spotted and the underpass. There were blood stains inside the car also,” he said.
The IG said police will reconstruct the crime scene to know what exactly would have happened at the time of incident. “We did not want to present any sketchy picture of police investigation. Every finding will be shared with the media and the culprit in the case would not be spared,” he said.
On whether the preliminary findings were against the constable who opened fire at Vivek, the IG said it is too early to comment on this. “We just started the SIT probe. Every aspect related to the incident was being probed. We had sought help from the public to share if they had any clue or any information related to the incident,” he said.
The IG Lucknow range said the entire crime scene had been earmarked in two parts crime scene 1 and crime scene 2. “In the crime scene 1, the SIT is examining if the car was moving or it was stranded. Why the constables stopped the vehicle? What was the cause of conflict which led to the unfortunate incident? What was compulsion that the constable opened fire?”
He said the team also visited the Gomti Nagar police station where both the vehicles were parked for technical inspection. “The bike had dent to the right side. The team is finding if it the dent was caused after it was hit by the victim’s vehicle. The team is also finding out how the victim’s vehicle had dent at one of the doors,” he said.
The IG said he cannot tell the time frame during which the probe will conclude. “This is a sensitive case and the police was trying its best to get scientific evidences to reach a conclusion,” he said.
Pandey said there is no restriction for anyone to get another FIR registered in a case. He was answering the queries about Vivek’s wife demand to register a new FIR.
Speaking about the delay in registration of the case and allegation that Sana, who was with Vivek in the car, was given a blank paper and asked to put her signature on it, the IG said the SIT will also investigate into these.
“If anyone is found guilty an action will be initiated against them,’ he said.
The SIT was formed on Saturday after the media started pounding the Lucknow police for showing callous attitude in the handling the case and initiating action against the errant constables. The team consists of SP Crime Dinesh Singh and ASP (Rural) Gaurav Grover as it members.