Yogi Adityanath orders arrest of ‘cow killers’; maintains silence on cop death

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held a security review two days after two people were killed in mob violence over the alleged illegal slaughter of cattle in Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh. The chief minister focused solely on the cow slaughter. A statement, which was released regarding the meeting, stated that he asked the officers in charge to speed up the arrests for those involved in the cow slaughter but kept silent on the killing of a police officer.

In another statement, Yogi Adityanath stated that he would arrange a meeting with the family of the policeman. The passage of time between the two statements made it obvious that the second statement was released in an attempt to control the damage caused by the initial statement.

Yogi Adityanath reportedly ordered the arrest of everyone related to the slaughter of cows and maintain a strict ban on illegal slaughterhouses. There was not a word about the two murders, the statement revealed.

Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, who had probed the Akhlaq lynching case initially, and a 20-year-old local had died of gunshot injuries on Monday, December 3, as a rampaging mob protesting alleged cow slaughter torched a police post and clashed with the cops, according to police. The mob left more than five policemen wounded, burned down a police station and set several vehicles on fire. A local man was also shot dead in the violence.

Two cases were filed after the Monday incident - one on the murders and the other on cow slaughter.

Four people were arrested in connection with the killing of Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh and a young man in the violence in Bulandshahr.

The police, however, maintained it would be too early to conclude about the involvement of any organisation in the violence although local officials linked the mayhem to right wing Hindu groups.

The police said the main conspirator behind Monday's mob violence was Yogesh Raj, who is on the run and is said to be a Bajrang Dal activist.

Additional Director General (Law and Order) Anand Kumar said those arrested were Chaman, Devendra, Ashish Chouhan and Satish, who have been named in the FIR, while the prime suspect was Yogesh Raj.

"Those arrested have been found to be leading the crowd after being identified in a video. About 40-50 others who are unidentified were involved in the incident and police is confident of identifying them with the video evidence," he said.

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