Ten people were convicted on Friday for the murder of an Uttar Pradesh police officer. Kunda circle officer Zia-ul-Haque was brutally killed in March 2013 while travelling on duty to Ballipur village in Pratapgarh. The verdict also comes a year after the Supreme Court directed the CBI to further investigate the alleged role of UP MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh — better known as ‘Raja Bhaiya’ — in the murder.
The verdict was delivered on Friday evening by a special CBI court. Those convicted have been identified as Phoolchand Yadav, Pawan Yadav, Manjeet Yadav, Ghanshyam Saroj, Ram Lakhan Gautam, Chotelal Yadav, Ram Aasre, Munne Patel, Shivram Pasi, and Jagat Bahadur Pal.
DSP Zia-ul-Haque was killed in Kunda amidst clashes that followed the shooting of village pradhan Nanhe Lal Yadav. The local official was reportedly shot dead by four officials on the turf of the multi-term MLA — allegedly by associates of the politician — amidst a dispute in March 2013. The Kunda cop had arrived at the scene with three other policemen around this time and rushed the pradhan to the nearest hospital.
According to older reports, Haque had later returned to the village alongside eight other policemen with the body of the village head. They were met by an angry mob of around 300 people — some of whom were armed. The DSP was separated during the ensuing chaos and reportedly beaten by the crowd before being shot. His widow Parveen Azad had however challenged the sequence of events and accused the other cops of deserting Haque.
Raja Bhaiya had been the dominant local MLA and a powerful member of the Samajwadi Party government run by Akhilesh Yadav at the time. He was an independent legislator who acquired notoriety for being a Thakur ‘bahubali’ with significant clout in the region.
Catch all the Business News , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
MoreLess