BJP leader Gajendra Bhati shot dead in Ghaziabad; attack comes after Yogi Adityanath reviewed law and order

A local BJP leader was killed and his friend injured when unidentified assailants fired at them this afternoon in Ghaziabad’s Khora colony, police said.

Gajendra Bhati and his friend Balbir Singh Chouhan were on a motorcycle in Khora colony when the two bike-borne attackers came near them and opened fire, city superintendent of police Arun Kumar Singh said. The two were rushed to a private hospital in neighbouring Noida where doctors pronounced Bhati dead on arrival, he said. Singh further said that Chouhan, who was critically injured, is undergoing treatment in the hospital. [caption id=“attachment_3973977” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] On receiving information about the incident, Bhati’s supporters reached the hospital in large numbers, Singh said. Heavy police force has been deployed outside the hospital to prevent any untoward incident, the city superintendent of police said. An investigation is underway in the matter, he added. The attack took place in broad daylight, and it comes just two days after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reviewed the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, as reported by Financial Express . According to the article, “Adityanath asked police to improve the law and order situation in the city.” The Uttar Pradesh chief minister instructed the police to make sure that a crime-free environment is maintained, other than ensuring the public’s safety on the streets. According to  PTI , former chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati claimed that the Adityanath government had scored a ‘zero’ on the law and order and governance fronts in its first hundred days. “The UP government has grossly failed on the law and order front; incidents of theft, dacoity, loot, murder, extortion, crime against women and communal violence have peaked in the last 100 days,” said Mayawati. IANS reported that former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav also condemned the Adityanath government for the poor state of law and order. The Samajwadi Party president launched a scathing attack on the Adityanath government, alleging that incidents of crime are increasing and law and order is crumbling in Uttar Pradesh.