Apple executive's killing: Why people have lost faith in trigger-happy police in Yogi Adityanath's Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday (October 1) morning met the family of Apple executive Vivek Tiwari at his residence. Yogi assured the family of Rs 25 lakh compensation, a job to the deceased's wife in the municipal corporation, accommodation and a fixed deposit of Rs 5 lakh each for both the daughters as well as Tiwari's mother.
Speaking to India Today after the meeting, Tiwari's wife, Kalpana, said: "I am satisfied with the meeting with the CM and we are hopeful that the SIT team formed to investigate the case will provide justice to our family. He addressed all our concerns and also assured that the government will also take care of our daughters' education."
Tiwari's daughters, Priyanshi and Divyanshi, also met the UP chief minister.
Speaking to India Today, Priyanshi said: "Yogi Adityanath also spoke to me and assured us of full cooperation in our education. He also promised that justice would be given to my father."
Meanwhile, Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma, who accompanied the family to the CM's residence, said: "Both the accused constables have been sent to jail. They have also been terminated from duty. The family has expressed faith in the SIT team and the state government stands firmly with them."
However, the politics over the killing of the Apple executive is only escalating.
Apart from BJP leaders Mahendra Nath Pandey and Rita Bahuguna Joshi, key Opposition leaders like Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, BSP MP Satish Mishra and Congress leader Sanjay Singh have also met the family and assured all possible help.
Hitting out at CM Yogi Adityanath over Vivek Tiwari's killing, Akhilesh Yadav said: "Anyone can be killed while this government is in power. There are criminal cases against Yogi Adityanath as well. He has influenced the UP police to conduct fake encounters and kill innocents. The CM believes in a thok do (gunning down) policy and maximum human rights violation notices have been received under the current regime.
"We also demand that the government provides Rs 5 crore compensation and a better job to the deceased's wife."
BSP supremo Mayawati also took a dig at the UP government, much on the lines of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
"Atrocities on Brahmins are increasing under the BJP rule and the law and order situation in UP has completely deteriorated. I have directed my party leader Satish Mishra to help the family, if they require legal help," said the BSP chief.
If I were the Chief Minister, I would have first taken action against the involved cops, and only then met the victim family. Not the other way round like the CM did: BSP Chief Mayawati on Vivek Tiwari case pic.twitter.com/hRNKdkhZ76
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) October 1, 2018
A delegation of Congress leaders met Tiwari's wife and made her speak to Sonia Gandhi on the phone.
"Sonia Gandhi spoke to my sister on the phone and has assured her that the Congress party will extend all support to the family. She also condemned the incident," said Vishnu Shukla, the deceased's brother-in-law.
But it's not just the opposition that is roiled over the incident. This issue has also created a divide within the BJP — some of the party MLAs have written a letter to Yogi Adityanath about Tiwari's killing, expressing anger over the way the police shot at a person over a "minor issue".
Meanwhile, the post-mortem report corroborated the statement given by the eyewitness, that the bullet was fired from the front (3.5 cm below the left side of the chin).
"We can, therefore, conclude that the position of wound can only occur when shot from the front," said the report.
While the eyewitness has claimed that the accused cop, Prashant Chaudhary, fired from the front, the policeman first claimed that he fired in self-defence, as the Apple executive, he said, tried to run him over. He later changed his statement and said he pulled out the pistol to threaten the driver, but discharged the weapon accidentally.
However, firing from the front, and at such a close distance, is only possible when the car was either moving slowly or was standing.
This has also exposed the claims made by top police officials initially who claimed that Tiwari may have died in a car accident.
The unrelenting behaviour of the accused constable and the series of media interactions which have taken place while in police custody also exposes how the entire department was evidently going soft on a murder accused.
CCTV footage has also meanwhile emerged, showing how minutes before the incident occurred, Vivek Tiwari's car was seen passing on the road without any suspicious activity. This evidence has also exposed another lie from the accused constable.
The SIT team, which is investigating the case, has impounded the CCTV footage from buildings close to the accident spot to investigate the sequence of events and the main reason behind the cop opening fire on Tiwari.
Yet, despite all these measures aiming at showing the government's 'swift' action against the accused cop, it is clear that Yogi Adityanath's 'encounter cops' have lost the people's faith.