Varanasi: The main accused of Ballia firing case Dhirendra Singh continued to dodge police on Saturday too and further kept cops on their toes by filing a surrender application in the local court.
Police threw a security blanket around the court to foil the surrender bid after a close associate of Dhirendra moved a plea before the district court in Ballia for his surrender.
SP Ballia Devendra Nath admitted heavy police force was deployed in and around the district court compound to foil the surrender bid.
“On Friday late night, one more accused, a cousin of Dhirendra, was arrested. So far, seven accused, including two named, who are cousin brothers of Dhirendra, have been arrested. I announced a cash reward of Rs 25,000 while DIG Azamgarh range announced a reward of Rs 50,000 on Dhirendra. Massive raids are being carried out to arrest Dhirendra,” the SP said.
Moreover, BJP MLA from Bairia Surendra Singh accused officials of local administration and police of initiating one-sided action and keeping chief minister Yogi Adityanath misinformed.
The Bairia MLA went to the district hospital to meet the injured family members of Dhirendra undergoing treatment and teared up in front of the media and people.
Accusing administration and police officials of being biased against Dhirendra and his family, the MLA said, “Even medical examination of injured family members of Dhirendra has not been conducted even though they are admitted in hospital after suffering injuries in the attack by rivals. The rivals of Dhirendra indulged in fighting and opened fire, but the officials have misinformed the CM and are taking one-sided action.”
“I am not asking them to spare Dhirendra, but his rivals should also be booked for their crime,” he added.
A group of ex-servicemen also came in support of Dhirendra and staged a demonstration under the banner of Purva-Sainik (ex-serviceman) Sangathan demanding FIR against his rivals led by Durjanpur village head Krishna Yadav.
Sangathan state in-charge Ramesh Singh said Yadav and his supporters had started fighting and opened fire in a planned way but the administration targeted only Dhirendra, who is an ex-serviceman. They threatened to gherao the Revati police station and intensify their stir if FIR is not lodged against Dhirendra’s rivals.
The SP, however, made it very clear that there is no question of lodging any FIR against the family of the firing incident victim Jaiprakash Pal.
Dhirendra had opened fire with his licensed revolver killing Jaiprakash Pal and escaped even after cops had caught him at the spot.