A police officer in Uttar Pradesh has been suspended after he was allegedly caught on an audio tape sharing details of a planned fake encounter with a suspected criminal and advising him on ways of surviving it.
An enquiry has also been initiated against the officer, Suneet Kumar Singh, SHO of Mauranipur in Jhansi.
Mr. Singh came under the scanner after an audio clip of him talking to a suspected criminal, identified as Lekhraj Yadav, on the telephone was widely circulated on social media. The veracity of the clip could not be confirmed.
Lekhraj Yadav is a former block pramukh.
In the lengthy conversation, Mr. Singh is heard advising Yadav to “manage” two BJP leaders Sanjay Dubey (BJP district president) and Rajiv Singh Paricha (MLA from Babina) if he wanted to survive a police encounter.
‘Current govt. stricter’
The police officer tells him that the current government under the BJP is stricter against criminals than the previous Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party governments and that he would have to “change with the times.”
“You have 60 cases against you. You are the fittest case for encounter in UP. And this is a BJP government. Now who will help you, you figure out,” the officer says.
Most of the audio is dominated by the officer’s voice and Yadav is mostly heard pleading to bail him out or inquiring about possible police action.
“Madad karo yaar. Madad karo (Help, me friend. Help!),” Yadav says. Several times he is also heard claiming that false cases were lodged against him.
The officer responds by saying that it is not in his control as a policy of encounters was on under the BJP rule.
BJP MLA Paricha, who is named in the audio clip, said he was ready for any probe but added that if the contents of the audio were true, it raised a huge question on the role of the police officer.
“That he speaks openly to a gangster and reveals police plan and gives him clues, is a matter of worry,” Mr. Paricha said.
The audio clip has surfaced at a time the U.P. Police have eliminated more than 45 suspected criminals in alleged encounters since the Yogi Adityanath government took over. The Opposition parties have accused the government of engineering fake encounters and even the NHRC has sought explanations from it regarding specific cases.
Samajwadi Party MLC Sunil Singh Saajan said the audio tape case had exposed the BJP government’s theory behind the encounters. “It has proven that the police is not deciding who is to be targetted in encounters, but BJP MLAs and district presidents are. They are targetting people on the basis of caste and religion, not crime,” Mr. Saajan said.
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