On December 3, a police inspector from Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh and a youth were killed in clashes that broke out in Shyana area over alleged cow slaughter. Three weeks after the incident now the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case has arrested a Delhi taxi driver, Prashant Natt in connection to the cop’s death.
Cornered and shot him dead
The accused, Natt from Chingrawthi village has confessed to his crime. While speaking to the media, Bulandshahr SSP Prabhakar Chaudhary told The Indian Express claimed that at the time of the incident Natt caught hold of the inspector, who was already surrounded by the mob in an open field. While the other policemen fled, cop, Subodh Kumar Singh fired in his defence, injuring a local youth Sumit, who later scummed to his injuries. Reportedly, Natt then shot inspector Subodh dead after snatching his pistol. However, the police have not recovered the inspector’s missing 32 bore pistol which was allegedly used in the crime, as reported by Hindustan Times.
The police also informed that Natt was not initially named in the FIR, his arrest was made after going through the CCTV recordings and eyewitness’ testimonies. Earlier, six of the 27 accused named in the case were arrested. As many as 19 others have been held after they were caught on video footages of the violence.
According to SSP Chaudhary, Natt was the shooter, while the others helped in restricting the inspector Subodh’s movement. On December 27, Natt was arrested by the UP Police from the Noida-Bulandshahr border. He would be sent to the judicial custody. As per the sources, Natt has a criminal background. Earlier, he was named in Arms Act and liquor smuggling cases are being probed, reports The Indian Express.
Soon after the incident on December 3, the police in the FIR had named Bajrang Dal activist Yogesh Raj as the prime accused in the killing of Inspector Subodh. Raj – who is still on the run- is still an accused in the case.
What happened that day?
On December 3, the incident took place when a few people started to protest in the area after they found the alleged carcass of a cow in the field, said the District Magistrate to The Indian Express. Allegedly, the mob was also protesting against illegal slaughterhouses.
The protestors had blocked the roads in the area. Following this, the police were informed about the incident. When the police reached the spot to get the roads opened, some unknown people started pelting stones at the at the police.
According to The Indian Express, the inspector, Subodh was again attacked while he was being taken to the hospital. The inspector died before he could have been treated.
