UP: Slain trader's business partner held, villagers gherao police station

Angry villagers on Monday protested at Kabrai police station in the district where a business partner of slain stone trader Indrakant Tripathi was held soon after the merchant's cremation, while the UP DGP constituted an SIT to probe the matter.


PTI | Lucknow | Updated: 15-09-2020 00:18 IST | Created: 15-09-2020 00:11 IST
UP: Slain trader's business partner held, villagers gherao police station
Representative image. Image Credit: Wikimedia
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Angry villagers on Monday protested at Kabrai police station in the district where a business partner of slain stone trader Indrakant Tripathi was held soon after the merchant's cremation, while the UP DGP constituted an SIT to probe the matter. Indrakant Tripathi, 44, who had levelled allegations of corruption against former Mahoba SP Manilal Patidar, now under suspension, was shot at under mysterious circumstances and succumbed to injuries at a hospital in Kanpur on Sunday.

"The DGP has ordered an SIT to be constituted for the incident in Mahoba which caused death of the businessman. The SIT will be headed by IG VNS Range Vijay Singh Meena and Shalabh Mathur DIG and Ashok Kumar Tripathi SP will be members. The SIT will submit its report in seven days," Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Awanish Kumar Awasthi said. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav have attacked the Uttar Pradesh government over the murder of the trader.

UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, meanwhile, was detained by police while on his way to meet the slain trader's family. Indrakant Tripathi's cremation took place amid heavy police presence, police said.

The situation suddenly took a turn for the worse when his business partner Purshottam Soni was picked up by police and whisked away in a police vehicle to Kabrai thana. "As we were returning from the cremation ground, my brother's business partner Purshottam Soni was picked up by the police. He was taken in a police vehicle to the Kabrai police station. This angered the villagers who gheraoed the thana," Indrakant's brother Ravikant Tripathi said.

"Mahoba Additional SP picked up Soni. He (additional SP), however, left the Kabrai police station as soon as Mahoba District Magistrate Avadhesh Kumar Tiwari reached there. The gherao was then lifted," he added. But the villagers camped near the police station pressing for Purushottam Soni's release.

Ravikant alleged that police were trying to shield the suspended SP. "The new SHO brought the postmortem report (along with the body) from Kanpur, but till now, Section 302 of IPC has not been added to the case," he said.

A case of attempt to murder was registered against four people, including the suspended SP, the suspended SHO, and Indrakant's business rival Suresh Soni on a complaint lodged by Ravikant, police had said on Saturday. "Stone trader Indrakant Tripathi was injured after he was allegedly shot at under mysterious circumstances," Circle Officer Rajkumar Pandey had said on Saturday.

On the police complaint lodged by Ravikant, a case was registered against the suspended SP, suspended SHO of Kabrai Police Station Devendra Shukla, Suresh Soni and another person under various sections of the IPC, including the attempt to murder (307) and the Prevention of Corruption Act. The FIR was registered on Friday.

According to Ravikant, his brother was found injured in his car with gunshot wounds on the Banda-Kabrai road at around 2.30 pm on Tuesday. He alleged that the suspended SP had demanded a bribe of Rs 6 lakh from his brother and threatened to kill him or send him to jail in case of non-payment within a week.

"My brother uploaded a video on social media on September 7 and 8...on Tuesday (September 8), he was found with bullet injury," he said. On September 9, Patidar was suspended with immediate effect by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on corruption charges.

The chief minister had also ordered a vigilance probe into the properties of Patidar. "Ballast transporters in the district had accused Patidar of demanding money from them for allowing the transportation of mined material and when his demand was not met, the vehicle owners were harassed by the police," UP Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi had said in an official statement.

UPCC chief Lallu and Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhana Misra Mona were stopped in Ghatampur area of Kanpur Dehat while they were on their way to Mahoba to meet Tripathi's family, the party's media convenor Lalan Singh said here. Both the leaders along with some other party workers have been kept at a guest house in Ghatampur without being given any reason for the detention, Lalan Singh said.

Earlier in the day, Priyanka Gandhi had tweeted, "The murder of Mr Indrakant Tripathi, the trader of Mahoba is a question mark on the working style of the entire UP government." "Crime and corruption are at its peak in the BJP government and now the officers of this government are giving supari of those who are raising voice against corruption. This is a dreaded form of jungle raj," she said in the tweet in Hindi. Amid the protest by villagers at the Kabrai police station, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav demanded the arrest of the suspended SP.

The government should not indulge in the artificial suspension but must arrest the accused officials involved in the Indrakanat Tripathi's murder, Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi. "Why is there so much laxity in initiating action against the SP and the DM? Under what right the police are trying to stop public representatives from meeting public and raising issues of public interest?" he asked.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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