UP Police Book Family of Man Killed in Ghazipur 'Encounter' For Protesting His Death |
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New Delhi: Police in Uttar Pradesh (UP) have lodged a criminal case against the family members of a 28-year-old man, including several women, for staging a protest with his body and pelting stones at officials, hours after he was shot dead in an alleged ‘encounter’ in Ghazipur.
The family of Kamlesh Chaudhary, alias Kamlesh Bind, has accused the police of executing him in a staged encounter. Police, however, maintain that they fired three shots at Kamlesh in retaliation and self-defence.
Vineet Rai murder and police pressure
Kamlesh Bind, who was associated with the Samajwadi Party, was killed late on June 3. He had been wanted in connection with the recent murder of a hotelier’s son, Vineet Rai. The ‘encounter’ came at a time when police were under immense political pressure to take action in Ghazipur. Rai, the son of the owner of Ghazipur’s Bindu Hotel, was shot dead around 11 pm on May 28 by four persons riding on two motorcycles. According to police, the suspects had a prior dispute with the victim.
Just days prior, in the early hours of May 31, police had shot dead a Muslim person, Asad, in an alleged ‘encounter’ at the opposite end of the state in Ghaziabad. He had been accused of stabbing to death a minor Hindu boy, Surya Chauhan, over a personal dispute.
On Thursday (June 4) evening, the situation turned hostile as Kamlesh’s body was being transported to his village in Ghazipur for cremation, following a post-mortem examination. Angered by the killing, a large crowd of men and women raised slogans against the administration and confronted the police force on duty.
According to sub-Inspector Ram Milan Yadav, who subsequently lodged a first information report (FIR) against the protesters, Kamlesh’s family placed the body near the Fullanpur railway crossing, effectively........