Bulandshahr Violence: Absconding Bajrang Dal Man Nabbed After a Month

NEW DELHI: Yogesh Raj, a key accused in the mob violence in Bulandshahr in which a police inspector and a civilian were killed on December 3, has finally been arrested "after a month", police confirmed on Thursday morning. 

Raj, the district convenor of Bajrang Dal, was absconding since the violence took place. He was arrested around 11.30 pm on Wednesday night from the Khurja-Bulandshahr highway, a police official told Newsclick. Raj is the one who “instigated” the Righ-wing mob against police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh and filed a 'false FIR' in the cow slaughter case wherein four Muslim boys were 'wrongly framed'  and arrested. However, later the four boys got a clean chit from the Special Investigation Team but only after being kept in ‘police custody’ for 16 days.

Speaking with Newsclick, Kiran Pal Singh, Station House Officer (SHO), Siyana, said: "Yogesh Raj has been arrested on Wednesday night around 11:30 from Brahmanand college near Khurja-Bulandshahr road. Medical check-up has been done in Siyana in the morning and later he was sent to judicial custody. Yogesh confessed his role in the mob violence during interrogation. His role was in instigating the violence, not the killing of police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh."

A day after the Bulandshahr violence, Yogesh Raj had pleaded innocence through a video posted on Facebook. 

When asked if the accused would be booked under the National Security Act (NSA) in the connection with the police inspector’s murder, the SHO said, "Sabhi logon par nahi lekin han jo mukhya mulzim hain un par NSA lagega (It will be not applicable on everyone but yes, the main accused will be booked under NSA)."

Yogesh Raj's arrest comes soon after the Uttar Pradesh police nabbed a Delhi-based  taxi driver Prashant Natt on charges of shooting inspector Singh, claiming that he was the “main accused” in the killing. A man identified as Kalua was also arrested by the police on January 1 for allegedly attacking the inspector with an axe.

Before that, an Army man, Jitendra Malik aka Jeetu Fauji, another “key accused” in the killing, was arrested on December 9 and is currently in judicial custody, but there are no inputs about him.

When to Use NSA 

The NSA is a preventive detention law, meaning that detention under the Act is to prevent the commission of an offence, not when an offence has already been committed.

Also Read : Uttar Pradesh Saw a Spurt in Hate Crimes in 2018

Newsclick approached former retired IPS officer, Vibhuti Narain Rai, to know where NSA is applicable. Rai said: "It must be some political pressure that they are bound to take action under NSA. The trouble (gau rakshaks or cow vigilantes) has been created by the same government, now they have to handle this. Generally, the government uses NSA against Muslims during communal riots.It would be interesting to see if the government books some of these accused under NSA."

Expressing his views on the misuse of NSA, advocate Mohammad Shoaib, chief of the Rihai Manch, told Newsclick: "The government is actually trying to weaken the case. If there is no challenge in the public order, you cannot use NSA, but the government is misusing NSA. There are different sections of IPC (Indian Penal Code) and if police have enough evidence against the accused, they should be booked under IPC sections, not NSA.”

On December 3, police inspector Singh was attacked while trying to quell mob violence on the streets after Right-wing people landed up with cow carcasses on a tractor trolley, alleging slaughter. His car was reportedly chased into the field where he was allegedly shot dead.