Four cops suspended in BJP zila panchayat member’s arrest case

VARANASI: Four policemen, including inspector Lanka were suspended, while CO Bhelupur was attached to police office on Sunday after a probe found that they had added irrelevant sections of IPC in the FIR lodged against Bharatiya Janata Party’s zila panchayat member and his brother and exaggerated the incident.
On Friday night, BJP zila panchayat member Surendra Patel and his brother Virendra Kumar Patel alias Bindu Patel, a lawyer, were arrested from Sundarpur area under Lanka police station for allegedly misbehaving with police personnel and manhandling them.
SSP Prabhakar Chawdhary said, “Inspector Lanka Ashwini Chaturvedi, Sundarpur police outpost in-charge Sunil Gaud and two constables have been suspended while CO Bhelupur Priti Tripathi has been attached to police office. Action has been taken against them for exaggerating the incident and adding irrelevant sections of IPC in the FIR lodged in this connection.”
District magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma had on Saturday asked ADM (finance and revenue) and ASP (security) to probe the matter and file a report by Sunday.
Earlier, on Saturday morning, lawyers came face to face with police when Bindu and his brother were taken to the court. Both were granted bail by the sessions court.
The incident took place on Friday when some policemen reached Sundarpur-Khojwa road to attend a complaint. Former students’ union leader of Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth Ravindra Patel also reached the spot.
A row erupted when cops asked Patel why he was not wearing a mask. Within minutes, more supporters reached the spot and attacked policemen after a heated argument.
Inspector Lanka reached with heavy police force and arrested Surendra and Virendra while others escaped. Lanka police lodged an FIR under sections 147, 148, 149, 323, 504, 506, 341, 307, 392, 114, 188, 269, 270, 364, 353, 332, 333 and 186 of IPC and 7 CL Act in this connection.
BJP’s Kashi president Mahesh Chandra Srivastava requested IG Varanasi range VS Mina and DM to review the matter. Sections 364, 392 and 307 were removed from the FIR.