Police officer shot himself: BJP lawmaker’s shocker on Bulandshahr violence

Devendra Singh Lodhi, the lawmaker from Sayna, also questioned when so many people were accused of the inspector’s murder

A BJP MLA in Uttar Pradesh on Friday kicked off a controversy over the death of police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh during the Bulandshahr violence on December 3, suggesting it could have been an accident.

Police Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, who was shot dead in the Bulandshahr violence on Dec. 03, 2018. Even as police released new details about his killing, a BJP MLA suggested that the police officer could have shot himself accidentally (File Photo) (PTI)

“Perhaps, he accidentally killed himself. He was an encounter specialist who earlier too had shot himself in his arm during encounters. Perhaps, this time too he attempted to fire at himself in his arms in self-defence (during the violence) but the bullet missed the mark and went through his eyebrows,” Devendra Singh Lodhi, the lawmaker from Sayna, said.

Lodhi also questioned why so many people were accused of the “inspector saab’s murder”. “There was ‘balwa’ (rioting) going on. Stones were pelted. Did all the accused had firearms... only one bullet wound was found on his body,” he said.

The lawmaker’s comment came on the day when fresh information out of the police investigations indicate that the police inspector, had his thumb chopped off and sustained head injuries in an axe attack before being shot dead.

These details of axe attack surfaced during the interrogation of prime accused Prashant Nat, who was arrested on Thursday, and recreation of the crime scene same evening.