Bulandshahr violence: Murdered police inspector’s son questions BJP MLA’s claim that cop shot himself; calls incident a ‘conspiracy’

New Delhi: Elder son of police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, who was among the two people killed in the Bulandshahr violence, Shrey Singh on Sunday questioned a BJP MLA’s claim that his father had shot himself. Singh and civilian Sumit Kumar were killed on 3 December in the mob violence that broke out in Bulandshahr’s Siyana area after cattle carcasses were found strewn outside a village. BJP MLA from Bulandshahr Devender Singh had reportedly said on Saturday that the inspector was not targeted, instead he “shot himself” out of hopelessness and in haste. “I do not want to respond to anyone except those challenging the post mortem report and saying my father shot himself. The autopsy report says he was shot from a distance of seven to eight metres. How can someone who shot himself do it?” Shrey, a college student, asked. [caption id=“attachment_5664021” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. 101 Reporters[/caption] The slain inspector’s son, along with some residents of Bulandshahr’s Naya Bans village who were wrongly named in the FIR for cow slaughter, were at an event of National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation (NCHRO). An umbrella body of various human rights organisations, the NCHRO demanded that the Supreme Court should monitor the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the Bulandshahr violence. Shrey said the entire episode appeared to be a conspiracy and questioned how a mob of 400 people could suddenly gather somewhere. Asked if he thought there was any political pressure on police in this case, he reposed his faith in the investigators and said he hoped to get justice. The police force is “like a family”, he added. The man who allegedly shot dead Singh, Prashant Nat, was arrested on Thursday. Senior officials had said that Nat, who was sent to 14-day judicial custody by a court on Friday, had admitted to shooting the inspector. The arrest of Prashant Nat is good progress. But there are still several missing links in this case which need to be connected, Shrey said. “I am waiting for the final police report,” he said. An FIR against 27 named accused and 50-60 unidentified people was registered at the Siyana police station over the violence. One of the main suspects named in the FIR is local Bajrang Dal leader Yogesh Raj, who is still at large. Responding to a question, Shrey said, “If Yogesh Raj, who has claimed innocence in videos, is clean, he should surrender before the police and join the probe. The fact that he is absconding testifies to his involvement.” “What is really sad is that those who have done all this, they also belong to our society. Today they have killed my father, tomorrow them may kill someone else. A clear message should reach them, not particularly them, but all such people that nobody should take the law in their hands,” he said. Describing his father as someone who accorded utmost priority to his work, Shrey recalled that every year on his birthday it was he who visited his father wherever he was posted and not the other way round. “We could be in the middle of cutting my birthday cake and he would leave everything and rush to the spot first if informed about any incident. He would cheer us up after returning,” he said.