UNDER MOUNTING political pressure, DIG Kanpur zone Daljit Chowdhary suspended SHO Ghatampur MP Saloniya late on Thursday night in connection with the death of a youngster in an encounter at Bhadras village under Ghatampur police station on May 8. The SHO has been absconding after a case was registered against him.
The DIG, for the first time, also accepted that killing of 15- year-old Santan Yadav was a grave mistake on the part of the police. He said: “The police should have been careful during the encounter to ensure no innocent person was harmed but, unfortunately, the deceased was innocent with no criminal history.”
Block Development Committee (BDC) member Babu Singh Yadav, elder brother of Santan, had lodged a complaint on Thursday at Ghatampur police station against 14 policemen, including SHO Ghatampur MP Saloniya, for killing his innocent brother. The tainted cops have been booked under the Indian Penal Code section 302 for murder and section 201 for tampering with facts.
Meanwhile, Santan’s friends Chaitu (12) and Mukesh (11), who were grazing cattle along with him there during the encounter, described how he was shot.
“On Monday afternoon three persons first ran through the field where we were grazing our cattle. They were being chased by policemen. While Chaitu and me stood still, Santan was at a distance of a few metres. After seeing the men being chased by the police he hid behind a tree. Then some policemen came and fired at Santan from a distance of about two feet. There were two other persons who raised their hands and the police arrested them.”
{{/usCountry}}“On Monday afternoon three persons first ran through the field where we were grazing our cattle. They were being chased by policemen. While Chaitu and me stood still, Santan was at a distance of a few metres. After seeing the men being chased by the police he hid behind a tree. Then some policemen came and fired at Santan from a distance of about two feet. There were two other persons who raised their hands and the police arrested them.”
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