Gun-wielding man sneaks into UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s Basti venue, 7 cops suspended

LUCKNOW: After a man wielding a revolver sneaked into a venue, where chief minister Yogi Adityanath was scheduled to address an event in Basti two days ago, seven cops were suspended for the security lapse on Friday.
The man with the licensed firearm, Jitendra Pandey, was nabbed at least 45 minutes before Yogi’s arrival, but heads rolled in the police force as the intruder passed through multiple frisking layers leading to the venue.
Pandey, who claimed to be a relative of a block pramukh in Basti, was caught with the gun in the final drill before the VIP event kicked off at Atal Bihar Vajpayee auditorium.
The probe panel constituted immediately after the security breach indicted the seven cops for dereliction of duty. Talking to TOI, superintendent of police, Basti, Ashish Srivastava, said, “The Itwa circle officer on duty, Ramesh Pandey, spotted the gun-wielding man inside the auditorium during the security protocol drill.” Senior cops were alerted and the man was quickly whisked away. But seven cops deployed to frisk invitees at the auditorium entrance were suspended and departmental action has been recommended against them.”
Of the seven, two constables sourced from neighbouring Siddharthnagar district and another from Sant Kabir Nagar, too were suspended. Those suspended from Basti included sub-inspectors Vindhyachal Kumar, Harirai, head constables Shivdhani and Ramprakash.