Local BJP leader blames cop for Bulandshahr violence in video

Congress workers at a protest over the Bulandshahr violence, in Lucknow, on Tuesday. Pic/PTI

A day after a Bajrang Dal activist appeared in a video claiming innocence in the Bulandshahr mob violence, another man wanted by the police has surfaced in a similar manner.

In the video, local BJP leader Shikhar Agarwal, who is also named in the FIR, is heard blaming slain police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh for the violence, which erupted around a police post over alleged cow slaughter. Inspector Singh and 20-year-old Sumit Kumar were killed as a mob, which included right-wing activists, clashed with the police. On Wednesday, a man identifying himself as Yogesh Raj, the convenor of Bajrang Dal's Bulandshahr unit, issued a video message claiming innocence. Raj said he was not present at the site of the violence.

The Bajrang Dal's western Uttar Pradesh unit had backed his claim of innocence, but also asked him to surrender before the police. In the latest video, Agarwal, who is BJP's Syana unit youth wing president, claimed it was the inspector who created tension by stopping him and others from taking some carcasses to the Chingrawathi police post for filing an FIR over the alleged cow slaughter. In the latest video, Agarwal is heard claiming that Singh threatened to kill him and his aides. Agarwal said he later told Additional Director General of Police Avinash Chandra Maurya about the "threat".

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