Cop booked for Samajwadi Party leader’s death

JALAUN - A criminal case was slapped against a police officer Friday in this Uttar Pradesh district after a Samajwadi Party (SP) leader died allegedly after being beaten by him, an official said.

Kotwali station house officer (SHO) Lalluram Diwakar allegedly assaulted the Samajwadi Party’s Jalaun unit secretary Ram Naresh Yadav, 48, late Thursday night in a police station. Yadav later succumbed to his injuries.

Yadav’s family members alleged that he had gone to meet Diwakar for some personal work, but the SHO refused to meet him. Later, when Yadav insisted, Diwakar, along with two constables, first hurled abuses at him and thereafter started assaulting him inside the police station till he died there.

“Acting on a complaint by Yadav’s family, we have registered a murder case against the inspector. An enquiry has also been initiated in the case. Further action will be taken only after the completion of the enquiry,” Additional Superintendent of Police Rakesh Shanker told reporters in the town, some 300 km from Lucknow.

Local Samajwadi Party activists have threatened to launch an agitation if Diwakar was not sacked from service.