The Etawah police arrested 34 people and seized 24 vehicles in connection with the case. Days after Samajwadi Party leader Dharmendra Yadav took out a roadshow in Etawah violating Covid protocol, nine policemen, including a Station House Officer (SHO), were suspended on Monday. A reward of Rs 25,000 was also announced on Monday in exchange for information leading to Yadav’s arrest.
The SP leader was released from Etawah district jail on Friday and had held the roadshow the next day. A case was registered against him and other accused at Civil Lines police station after a video of the roadshow went viral on social media on Saturday. The Etawah police arrested 34 people and seized 24 vehicles in connection with the case. Among the suspended policemen, two sub-inspectors were posted in the Auraiya district.
“A reward of Rs 25,000 has been declared in exchange for information on Yadav. Raids are on to track him down and the other accused,” said Additional Superintendent of Police, Etawah, Prashant Kumar Prasad.
A native of Auraiya’s Diviyapur area, Yadav is facing 25 cases, including murder charges, against him. The SP leader, who won the Zila Panchayat member election, is also the Samajwadi Party’s Yuvjan Sabha chief of Auraiyya.
Among the nine policemen, seven were suspended by Etawah Superintendent of Police Brijesh Kumar Singh. The officers were Civil Lines SHO Om Prakash Pandey, Etawah’s Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) head Inspector Puneet Kumar Sharma, in-charges of police outposts Sub-Inspectors Bhanu Pratap Singh and Vishnu Kant Tiwari and three other constables. All seven of them were suspended on charges of laxity in discharging his duty and for being unaware about the roadshow before the video surfaced on social media.
Superintendent of Police, Auraiya, Aparna Gautam suspended Anantram police outpost in-charge Sub-Inspector Chandrika Prasad and Auraiya’s local intelligence unit member Sub-Inspector Bhupendra Nath.
Police said an inquiry was conducted after the roadshow video had gone viral. Police found that a few vehicles of the Auriaya district were used in the roadshow. “Before rallying to Etawah, vehicles were assembled at a place under the Anantram police outpost, during which Covid rules were flouted. Action has been taken against the sub-inspectors for failing to report the matter to senior police officials,” said a police officer.
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