Akhilesh assures justice to family of UP man killed in 'encounter' with STF

Lucknow, Sep 13 (PTI) SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on friday assured "justice" to the family members of accused Mangesh Yadav, who was allegedly killed by STF in an "encounter" on September 5.
     Akhilesh gave the assurance after Mangesh's family members met him at the Samajwadi Party's (SP) headquarters here and shared their grief with him, the party said in a statement.
     The SP statement alleged that Mangesh was picked up from his home by the police and killed in a fake encounter. Mangesh's grief-stricken father, mother and sister also informed Akhilesh about the "harassment" by the police, it said.
     "Akhilesh Yadav assured justice to the victim's family. Mangesh Yadav's father Rakesh Yadav, mother Sheela Devi and sister Princy Yadav, who came from village Agaraura police station Baksa in Jaunpur, gave information about the entire incident," the SP said in the statement.
     A robbery in Sultanpur had taken place on August 28 at Bharat Jewellers in Thatheri Bazaar, Majerganj Chauk.
     Of the 15 accused, three -- Sachin Singh, Pushpendra Singh and Tribhuvan -- were held while Mangesh was killed in an encounter with the Special Task Force (STF). Later, one Vipin surrendered in court.
     The police arrested Durgesh Pratap Singh, Vinay Shukla, Arvind Yadav alias Fauji and Vivek Singh.
     Akhilesh assured the victim's family that an impartial inquiry will be conducted into the killing of their son by the police.
     He said, "The police in Uttar Pradesh have a new method -- pick up anyone, make a false story and by pressuring the family and encounter the truth itself. The encounter figures in the BJP government are also figures of injustice of illegal killings and also figures of injustice against the PDA.
     "The backward, Dalit and minorities are being tortured everyday. The Samajwadi Party has always raised its voice against injustice and atrocities," he added.
     Highlighting the sequence of events, the party statement said there was a robbery at a jeweller's shop in Sultanpur on August 28. Around 2 am on September 2, the police took Mangesh from his house. On September 3-4, the police came to the house during the day and said interrogation was going on, it said, adding that Mangesh would be released.
     The statement alleged that on September 5, Mangesh was killed in a fake encounter in police custody. The police said "go and bring the body to the post-mortem house in Sultanpur".
     "The victim's family members said the police made the video by putting pressure on them and it contains nothing but lies. In the video that the police are broadcasting, they have been forced to give statements according to their wish.
     "The entire village is telling the truth. The police is forcibly declaring Mangesh a criminal and earning applause by doing an encounter," the statement said.
     Meanwhile, on Thursday, UP Director General of Police Prashant Kumar dismissed the allegations about the state police being "trigger-happy", asserting it adheres to strict guidelines and has not faced any criticism from constitutional bodies.
     Kumar's remarks came in response to Mangesh's "encounter" which has sparked controversy with Akhilesh accusing the BJP of staging fake encounters to target individuals on the basis of caste and religion.
     The SP president had on Tuesday slammed the UP government, saying statistics of encounters during the BJP rule are also statistics of the "injustice of illegal killings" and "injustice done against the PDA".

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)