Akhilesh Yadav criticises Yogi Govt, says 'no faith in administration'

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday visited the home of a youth who was killed in a police encounter over alleged illegal sand mining and lashed out at the BJP government, saying he has no trust in the state police and the administration. "Not much should be expected from the police force of a state where the Chief Minister openly asks them to 'thok dalo' (shoot) those taking law in their own hands," he said after meeting the family members of Pushpendra Yadav, who was killed last week. "I have no faith in the police and administration of the state," Akhilesh said.

BJP hits back at Yadav

The BJP has hit back at Yadav stating that he is more concerned about sand mining mafia and his caste arithmetic. "It was an encounter but Akhilesh has to go to the person's house because he is in love with the sand mining mafia and has to take care of the caste equation. However, he does not care how the sand mining mafia should be eradicated. This is precisely why he was thrown out by the people in elections," senior BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh said.

Read | Tejashwi Yadav says BJP-JD(U) infighting turning Bihar into a circus

Yadav's demands 

Alleging that the police killed a youth in Jhansi last week in a staged gunfight, the SP president reiterated the demand of lodging of a murder case against the SHO involved in the case and a probe into the incident by a sitting high court judge. "No one believes the police theory on the encounter. Actually it is not an encounter but murder by the police. The family members have not even got the postmortem report," Akhilesh said, adding the police should not have had any objection to the demands of the family members of filing a case. "It is surprising that even the last rites were performed by the police without the family members. Is this Ram Rajya? Akhilesh said.

Read | Sonbhadra incident: UP CM Yogi Adityanath makes massive allegation, says main accused is a Samajwadi Party worker

He said that there have been many such killings in Sonebhadhra, Saharanpur, Noida, Azamgarh, and Shamli and people have no faith in the probe by this government and the administration. "It is very unfortunate that the government and administration are together in saving the police station in-charge. There appears to be some big conspiracy behind this," he said. Akhilesh said that he has assured the family of all possible help.

Read | Shivpal Yadav says 'open for coalition' with nephew Akhilesh Yadav

'Loopholes in police story'

"There are many loopholes in the police story. The incident has sparked protests in the area," Akhilesh stressed.  Akhilesh's "loopholes" accusations come in the backdrop of Jhansi SSP OP Singh telling media persons on the night of the encounter that the thana in-charge was returning in his private vehicle after vacation when the incident took place, while the SHO concerned said that he was on patrol at the time of incident. The family members of the deceased have alleged that the police officer in charge of the area, Dharmendra Chauhan, was demanding Rs. 1.5 lakh bribe to release his truck and killed Yadav when he refused to pay and threatened to expose him. The police, on the other hand, claimed that Pushpendra ran a sand mining business and was shot dead on Sunday by a police team after he opened fire at the police inspector who had seized his truck used for sand mining, a few days earlier.

Read | Chhattisgarh: Two killed in encounter between Maoists and Police