Agencies / Bulandshahr
The Army jawan who was allegedly involved in the murder of a police inspector during the Bulandshahr violence on December 3 has been sent to 14-days judicial custody by a local court in Uttar Pradesh today.
Jeetendra Malik, aka Jitu Fauji, was detained by his unit, 22 Rashtriya Rifles, in Jammu and Kashmir’s Sopore on Saturday. The Uttar Pradesh, however, did not seek his remand, adding a fresh twist to the case.
“The video does not show that he was present at the spot when the violence broke out. He was with me when it happened,” a member of his family said.
Dharmendra Malik came on the defensive and appealed that his brother is innocent and that he is being framed. “My brother is being trapped in some conspiracy…He is not involved in the killing of the inspector…I have evidence to prove that my brother wasn’t present at the site where the incident took place. I request Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to help me,” Dharmendra told media persons.
Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has extended his full cooperation with the Uttar Pradesh police in the investigation.
A special investigation team of the Uttar Pradesh police took him into custody yesterday. Nine people have in total been arrested for the dastardly act where a civilian, Sumit Kumar, was also killed. As many as 27 people have been named in the First Information Report lodged at the Siyana police station, along with around 60 unidentified people who were involved in the clashes last week.
Police inspector Subodh Kumar and Sumit were killed in the violence that broke out on Monday after cow carcasses were found strewn in the jungle. The demonstrators loaded the carcasses on tractor trolleys and took out a protest on a busy road, leading to a huge traffic jam.
When a team of police reached the spot, a few miscreants allegedly pelted stones at the cops and ransacked a police station, setting ablaze several police vehicles. As violence ensued, police inspector Kumar suffered gunshot injuries and was also allegedly attacked with blunt objects and stones, and succumbed to his injuries.