Shahjahanpur: Meat vendor ‘beaten up’, S-I among 3 cops suspended

Superintendent of Police (SP), Shahjahanpur, Ashok Kumar Meena said on Wednesday that a preliminary investigation report found that the three policemen beat up the vendor. Further action would be taken after a “detailed departmental inquiry,” Meena said.

“After the assault by the policemen, Nand Kumar suffered injuries on the lower part of his body. His left hand is also fractured,” claimed Tara Chand, the victim’s nephew, who assists Kumar at his meat shop.

The three suspended policemen are sub-inspector Dinesh Chandra, who was in-charge of Paka police outpost, and constables Rishipal and Sumit Saini, who were also posted there, police sources said.

SP Meena said the chain of events on Sunday would become clear only after receiving the report of the inquiry, being conducted by Assistant Superintendent of Police, Budaun, Sanjeev Kumar Bajpai.

Tara Chand told The Indian Express that his meat shop is located at Balmiki Colon, which is “quite far away” from the route of the recently concluded Kanwar Yatra. “Following instructions from the local police, we had closed our shop since the Kanwar Yatra started. Recently, our neighbor, Rajesh Kumar, died (natural death). In our community, meat is served to people attending ‘terahvi’ ritual. Rajesh’s family members requested us to arrange meat for the function. We opened our shop on July 23 to slaughter animals to supply the meat,” said Tara Chand.

“After getting to know that the shop is open, a police constable arrived and asked my uncle to go with him. Later, when we went to the Paka police outpost, we were told that Nand Kumar had been sent to Kotwali police station. Later, when we reached the station, we found that my uncle was crying in pain. He had injuries on many parts of the body. A while later, the police let off my uncle and warned us not to tell anyone about the incident,” added Tara Chand.

At the behest of neighbours, the victim’s family filed a complaint with the SP’s office later the same day, seeking action against the policemen involved in the “assault”. On July 24, the victim’s family members, along with some local residents, reached the police outpost and staged a protest against police “inaction”.

The agitation was called off after senior officers assured the protesters of action in the case.