Bulandshahr violence : Slain cop’s phone found in house of key accused

Meerut: The official mobile phone of an inspector killed in the December 2018 mob violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district has been recovered from the residence of the man who allegedly shot him, police officials said on Sunday.

The recovery comes nearly two months after the incident in Bulandshahr’s Siana area where on December 3 2018, a mob fought pitched battles with police, apparently after right-wing activists were angered by the discovery of cow carcasses strewn outside a village.

Inspector Subodh Kumar’s phone with a CUG (closed user group) number was recovered along with five more phones on Saturday from the house of key accused Prashant Natt, a senior police officer said.

Natt, who had allegedly shot the inspector during the violence, was arrested on December 18 2018 from Sikandrabad and is in jail.

“We had got information from sources that inspector Subodh Kumar’s mobile phone could be kept hidden at Natt’s house and we procured a search warrant from the court to check his place,” Additional Superintendent of Police, City, Atul Kumar Shrivastava, said.

“The CUG mobile phone of the inspector was recovered from Natt’s house during the search. Some other phones were also found and all the phones have been sent to a forensic lab for finding more details like their call records,” he said.

However, the pistol that was used to open fire on the inspector is still missing, and the ASP said a “search is on for it”. Natt, 26, a resident of Chingrawathi village, would work part-time as a driver in Delhi and nearby areas, and other times worked locally as a labourer, according to the police.

During the violence, a 20-year-old Chingrawathi resident Sumit Kumar was also killed of gunshot. An FIR was lodged at the Siyana police station against at least 80 people for murder, attempt to murder, rioting, sedition, damaging public property, among other charges in which twenty-seven were named.

“So far, 38 accused have been arrested in connection with the violence case,” Siyana Circle Officer Raghvendra Mishra said on Sunday.

Those arrested include Bajrang Dal’s Bulandshahr unit convenor Yogesh Raj, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha’s Siyana unit head Shikhar Agarwal, Army jawan Jeetender Malik, and Kalua, who first attacked the inspector, surrounded by five to six men.

A separate FIR for cow slaughter was filed on December 3 2018 in which six accused have been arrested.

Three of them, Azhar Khan, Mehboob Ali and Nadeem Khan, were on January 14 booked under the National Security Act, 1980 (NSA) by the Bulandshahr administration, which said their release may disrupt public order.