‘SITs in U.P. working to save govt.’

The Special Investigation Teams formed in Uttar Pradesh were functioning like the ‘Sarkar Bachao Dal’ or Government Saviour Teams, State Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu alleged on Tuesday.

Mr. Lallu’s attack on the U.P. government came hours after it formed an SIT to probe the death of Mahoba businessman Indrakant Tripathi who had accused IPS officer Mani Lal Patidar of threatening to get him killed for not paying extortion money.

The three-member SIT, ordered by Uttar Pradesh DGP, will be headed by Varanasi Inspector General Vijay Singh Meena. The SIT will submit its report in seven days, the government said.

Mr. Patidar was last week booked on charges of allegedly conspiring to murder Indrakant.

Mr. Lallu lashed out at the government for not arresting the accused and called the incident a ‘blot’ on the State’s law and order condition. “The SIT has become a ‘Sarkar Bachao Dal’ in U.P.,” the MLA said, accusing CM Adityanath of providing patronage to “such criminals”.

That the accused are yet to be sent to jail shows that the BJP government is bent on “murder of justice”, he added.

“Why is evidence required for something that is so evident? An SP was running a gang but the Home department had no inkling about it,” Mr. Lallu said on Twitter.

Indrakant was found shot in the neck in his car last week. His brother Ravikant Tripathi reiterated his demand that the accused cops be arrested and his family members be provided security.

On if he was satisfied with the SIT probe, Mr. Ravikant said he had so far no complaints about the steps taken by the government.