Police officer killed in mob fury, 50 held (Second Lead)

LUCKNOW - A police sub-inspector was killed and four of his colleagues seriously injured Wednesday when a mob torched their outpost in Uttar Pradesh to protest the arrest of a suspected robber. Fifty people have been arrested for the violence.

According to the police, protestors barged into the police outpost before setting it on fire in Jamaniya town in Ghazipur district, some 300 km from here. They claimed that the arrested man was not linked to a Dec 9 robbery at a post office.

“The protestors are linked to the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (CPI-ML). They attacked policemen when they tried to defuse the situation through talks,” Additional Director General of Police (law and order) Brij Lal told reporters here.

“The protestors indulged in arson and vandalism at the outpost. They manhandled the police and opened firing. It appears that sub-inspector Rama Rao, who was in-charge of the outpost, died in the firing. A bullet injury has been found in his head,” he added.

Asked whether there was any Maoist angle in the incident, Lal said: “Preliminary investigations reveal that the protestors were carrying out the demonstration under the banner of ‘Shoshit Samaj Dal’.”

“Though the protestors also included women, as of now we have only arrested men,” said Lal, adding that the protesting outfit was not a banned one.

Police Dec 30 had arrested a man named Manoj Bind in Ghazipur and claimed to have recovered cash, stamps and saving certificates worth lakhs of rupees that were reportedly stolen from the post office in Jamaniya.

“Additional security, including one company of Provincial Armed Constabulary, has been deployed in Jamaniya. The situation is completely peaceful now,” Lal said.