Bulandshahr violence part of political conspiracy, claims Uttar Pradesh DGP, hints at links to Babri demolition anniversary

Adding a twist to the Bulandshahr mob violence case, Uttar Pradesh DGP OP Singh said that the incident was not just a law and order issue, but part of a political conspiracy. Singh told CNN-News18 that there were reasons to believe that the timing of the whole incident was a suspect. “We are also checking whether the timing is suspicious as the incident comes close to 6 December, which happens to be the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition,” he said. Singh said that the first FIR was registered within 48 hours of the two murders. [caption id=“attachment_5661321” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath. PTI[/caption] Meanwhile, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath preferred to stay mum on the two murders but summoned top officials on Tuesday and ordered a thorough investigation and directed authorities to ensure strict action against those involved in cow slaughter which was said to be the trigger for the brutal incident in Bulandshahr on Monday. Adityanath also held a meeting in Lucknow with the chief secretary, DGP, principal secretary (home) and additional director general of police (intelligence). Preliminary investigation by police and firsthand accounts of eyewitnesses of the Bulandshahr tragedy point towards a pre-planned attempt at spreading communal tension, reports have said. A violent clash between the police and villagers of Mahaw on Monday following an alleged case of illegal slaughtering of cattle resulted in the death of station house officer (SHO) of Siyana police station Subodh Kumar Singh, 47, and a 21-year-old youth. The DGP told CNN-News18 that the police is tracing all possible angles and especially focussing on the incident of the alleged cow slaughter. Singh replaced Sultan Singh as the DGP, who retired on 31 December, 2017. The 1983-batch IPS officer was appointed as the Director General of Police in January this year. Adityanath promoted Singh over four other senior IPS officers — 1982 batch IPS officer Praveen Singh and three IPS officers from the 1983 batch, Suryakumar Shukla, RR Bhatnagar and Gopal Gupta. The chief minister has already faced the flak from the Opposition parties for attending a laser show in Gorakhpur when the violence broke out in Bulandshahr on Monday. The Opposition has said that such incidents are part of attempts to incite communal unrest in the society ahead of polls. After the chief minister’s meeting, Additional Chief Secretary (Information) Avinish Awasthi said, “The (UP) Chief Minister directed (officials) for a thorough probe in the incident. Instructions were also issued to take stringent action against people involved in cow slaughter.” “The incident is part of a bigger conspiracy, and hence all those directly or indirectly related to cow slaughter should be arrested in a time-bound manner,” he said. With inputs from agencies