UP cops in J&K to nab suspect jawan

Bulandshahr violence

JAMMU: The fire of a police inspector’s murder in mob frenzy over cow slaughter in Bulandshahr early this week reached Jammu, when a team of Uttar Pradesh police arrived here on Friday to investigate the involvement and arrest a soldier, whose name got surfaced as a prime suspect in the incident which triggered after cattle carcasses were found in nearby fields.

The Army has assured their cooperation to the UP police team, while confirming that the cops have contacted them.

The said solider Jeetu alias Fauji of Mahav village is a named accused in the case, Inspector General (Crime) S K Bhagat of Lucknow told reporters when asked about his alleged involvement in the mob violence.

Jeetu's actual name is Jeetendra Malik and he is the 11th suspect named in the first information report (FIR) lodged at Siyana police station on December 4.

According to preliminary information, he is posted in Jammu and a police team has been sent there, Bhagat said.

As per the sources, the UP police team arrived in Jammu and then drove to Udhampur based Northern Command where it met top military officers.

“The cops shared some important evidences and sought help to identify the accused solider, who is absconding since the incident occurred,” sources said.

A senior defence personnel said that the Northern Command has assured the cops their full cooperation.

He refused to share further details, saying they will be released at ‘appropriate’ time, after ‘positive identification’ of accused.

It may be mentioned here that the media reports named Jeetu Fauji , who is posted in J&K as the suspect who allegedly fired the shot that killed Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh on Monday.

The cattle carcasses were found outside Mahav.

Sources in the village revealed that Jeetu had come to the village on leave and was "present at the site of violence" but left soon after the incident on Monday afternoon. His elder brother is also in the Army.

"Both of my sons are in the Army. They are not here, they on duty," his mother Ratan Kaur said, adding the police had raided her house around 1 am Tuesday, assaulted her daughter-in-law, vandalised the house and picked up her husband, Rajpal Singh.

The 60-year-old woman said she was away in Pipala village at the house of her elder daughter-in law as her family had suffered a bereavement recently. She said she returned home only on Wednesday
Speaking to a TV news channel, she Friday said, "Jeetu is in Kargil and if any evidence like a picture or a video emerges showing he killed the policeman then I will kill him myself. I'm not so heartless, I'm equally pained by the death of the policeman and the other boy from Chingrawathi and also for what the entire village and its people are going through."

Jeetendra's wife Priyanka, 24, also supported her mother-in-law's claim of post midnight vandalism and assault by the police.

"I was at home with my father-in-law and my three- month-old baby when the police came to our house. They assaulted me so badly that my hand got fractured and I suffered an injury in one ear," she told from a hospital in Meerut.