The Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday arrested Prashant Natt who, they claimed, shot dead Station House Officer Subodh Kumar Singh during the mob violence in Bulandshahr earlier this month.
The Superintendent of Police (City), Bulandshahr, Atul Srivastava, said Natt shot dead Singh with the officer's service weapon after snatching it from him. They were questioning him on who killed protester Sumit Singh during the violence. In some videos, he was seen among those throwing stones during the attack on the Chingravati police outpost.
Mob violence erupted in the Syana area of Bulandshahr on December 3 after right-wing groups alleged cow slaughter and brought the carcasses to the police outpost in a tractor- trolley. Subodh Kumar was allegedly assaulted by the mob after he was cornered in a field.
Mr. Srivastava said Natt had confessed to his involvement in the incident and firing the bullet that killed Subodh Kumar. The officer was shot near his left eyebrow with a .32 bore weapon, the police had said on the basis of the autopsy report.
He was the investigating officer in the 2015 Mohammad Akhlaq lynching case in Dadri.
The police had identified Army jawan Jeetu Fauji as a suspect in the murder case. Bajrang Dal activist Yogesh Raj, named the main instigator in the mob violence in the FIR, is still absconding. So is the BJP Yuva Morcha Bulandshahr city president Shikhar Agarwal.