Priyanka Gandhi, stopped by UP cops earlier, now on way to meet kin of man who died in custody

Earlier, Priyanka tweeted, “Arun Valmiki died in police custody. His family is seeking justice. I want to visit family. What is the UP government afraid of? Why am I being stopped? Today is Lord Valmiki Jayanti, PM spoke big on Mahatma Buddha, but is acting against his message.”

अरुण वाल्मीकि की मृत्यु पुलिस हिरासत में हुई। उनका परिवार न्याय मांग रहा है। मैं परिवार से मिलने जाना चाहती हूं। उप्र सरकार को डर किस बात का है? क्यों मुझे रोका जा रहा है।

आज भगवान वाल्मीकि जयंती है, पीएम ने महात्मा बुद्ध पर बड़ी बातें की, लेकिन उनके संदेशों पर हमला कर रहे हैं।

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) October 20, 2021

Police said the Congress general secretary was stopped as the Agra district magistrate had requested not to allow any political personality to go there following the man’s death, PTI reported.

न्याय के कारवां को दमन और जोर से नहीं रोक पाओगे।
न्याय के लिए उठी आवाज को नहीं कुचल पाओगे।।

भाजपाई पुलिस कांग्रेस महासचिव श्रीमती @priyankagandhi जी को न्याय की आवाज बुलंद करने से रोक नहीं पायेगी, हम न्याय की आवाज बुलंद करते रहेंगे। pic.twitter.com/gzLsUgUI5P

— INC Chhattisgarh (@INCChhattisgarh) October 20, 2021

She has neither been taken into custody nor arrested. Because of the massive crowds, the movement of traffic was being hampered and she was first asked to either go to the party office or her residence but when she did not agree, she was sent to the police lines,” Lucknow police commissioner D K Thakur said, PTI reported.

Later, Priyanka said she was on her way to meet the family of Arun Kumar. “Four people have been allowed to visit Agra now…we are going there to meet the family,” she was quoted as saying by ANI.

To a query from newspersons in Kushinagar on Priyanka being stopped from going to Agra, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had earlier in the day said, “Law and order is supreme and no one will be allowed to play with it.”

While being taken to the police lines, Priyanka had told newspersons that she will definitely go to Agra.

Arun, who was accused of stealing Rs 25 lakh from the Jagdishpura police station, died in police custody after his health deteriorated during interrogation, officials said on Wednesday.

Senior Superintendent of Police (Agra) Muniraj G said the accused, Arun, suddenly fell sick on Tuesday night while a raid was being carried out at his house to recover the stolen money. He was taken to a hospital where doctors declared him dead, he said.

Priyanka, who raised questions about his death in a tweet, left by road from the state capital to Agra to meet the Arun’s family but was stopped from proceeding by the Lucknow Police at the Lucknow-Agra Expressway, citing the Agra DM’s request to not allow any political person to reach there.

“Do I need somebody’s permission whenever I move out of Lucknow? Is there a problem why I am not being allowed to go to Agra, is there a law and order issue,” she asked policemen who stopped her cavalcade.

“Someone has died, how can it be a law and order issue? Ask the DM by calling him. It’s too much that I cannot go out anywhere and should remain confined in a guest house in Lucknow,” she told policemen when they showed her the message from the Agra district magistrate.

Congress workers reached the spot in large numbers and raised anti-government slogans.

Arun was accused of stealing the money on Saturday night from the ‘maalkhaana’ (a storage house where items confiscated by police are kept)” of the police station where he worked as a cleaner. Following the theft, six police personnel, including the station house officer, had been suspended by the additional director general (ADG) of Agra zone.

During the investigation, police rounded up several suspects. Arun was one of them as he had access to the ‘maalkhaana’.

He was arrested from the Taj Ganj locality in Agra on Tuesday. According to the police, Arun had shaved his head to hide his identity.

“Police teams were questioning several suspects in connection of the theft. On Tuesday, evening a man named Arun, who is a resident of the Lohamandi area, was taken into police custody,” PTI quoted the Agra SSP as saying.

“During interrogation, Arun admitted that he had committed the theft and informed us that the stolen money was at his home,” he added.

Police recovered Rs 15 lakh during the raid on his house before his health deteriorated and he died.

(With PTI inputs)