Life term for all 10 convicted of 2013 killing of DSP in UP’s Kunda

LUCKNOW: The special CBI court in Lucknow awarded life sentence to all 10 accused convicted in the brutal murder of deputy superintendent of police (DySP) Zia-ul-Haq in Kunda, Pratapgarh 11 years ago.
Those convicted include Phoolchand Yadav, Pawan Yadav, Manjeet Yadav, Ghanshyam Saroj, Ram Lakhan Gautam, Chhotelal Yadav, Ram Asre, Munnalal Patel, Shivram Pasi, and Jagat Bahadur Pal alias Bulle Pal.They were also fined Rs 19,500 each, with half of the amount to be given to the wife of the slain CO, Parveen Azad.
The convicted had lynched Haq, who was then the CO of Kunda, on March 2, 2013, when he arrived at a site of unrest following the murder of a village pradhan.
Initially, there were allegations that Kunda MLA and then minister in the SP government, Raghuraj Pratap Singh, was also involved in the crime, but the CBI gave him a clean chit.
Special Judge Dhirendra Kumar found the ten accused guilty under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including Sections 302 (murder), 149 (unlawful assembly), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), and 353 (assault on a public servant).
Special public prosecutor KP Singh told ToI that the eyewitness statements of Arjun Patel, Hari Lal, Girish Kumar, and then inspector Manoj Shukla played a crucial role in leading to the conviction in the case. Singh added that a total of 32 witnesses were presented before the court during the trial.
The CBI had filed the FIR in the case in March 2013, followed by a chargesheet in June of the same year.
"Overall, 12 individuals were chargesheeted in the case. The list included Babloo Yadav, the son of village pradhan Nanhe Yadav, whose killing had triggered the unrest. Babloo also died during the trial, while another suspect, Sudhir Yadav, was acquitted for lack of evidence," Singh said.
When the CBI took over the case, it registered separate cases for the murders of three persons, Zia-ul-Haq, Nanhe Yadav, and his brother Suresh Yadav. The fourth FIR was registered by Parveen Azad, the wife of Zia-ul-Haq.
The investigation into the alleged murder of Suresh Yadav, brother of Nanhe Yadav, has also been completed. A closure report has been filed, as it emerged during the investigation that Suresh Yadav had died from firearm injuries sustained from his own DBBL gun. However, the murder case of Nanhe Yadav is still pending.
Satisfied, says DSP's father
Shamsul Haq, the father of Zia-ul-Haq and a resident of the Khukhundu police station area, expressed satisfaction with the court's verdict. "After my son's death, we experienced grief and dissatisfaction, and now the families of the guilty will feel the same. After 11 years, the right judgment has finally been delivered. Ten people have been sentenced to life imprisonment in exchange for one life. We are fully satisfied with the decision," he said.
The incident
After the murder of village pradhan Nanhe Singh Yadav in Balipur village on March 1, 2013, a large number of his supporters arrived in the village armed with weapons. The situation was so intense that Kunda's kotwal, Sarvesh Mishra, could not muster the courage to approach Yadav's house with his team. Then CO Zia-ul-Haq took a different route to reach the pradhan's house amidst firing by villagers. Fearing for their safety, gunner Imran and SSI Kunda Vinay Kumar Singh, who were deployed for the CO's security, hid in a field. As soon as Haq entered the village, the villagers surrounded him and allegedly lynched him.