Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday attacked the Uttar Pradesh government over the death of a Kanpur businessman in a police raid, claiming that the case is linked to an extortion racket and "someone" is trying to save himself.
Businessman Manish Gupta died in a Gorakhpur hotel during the raid late on Monday night, prompting authorities to suspend six policemen and book them for murder. The policemen are absconding.
"No policeman has been arrested in the Manish Gupta murder case. This shows that they did not escape themselves but were made to escape. Actually, someone is not saving the accused but saving himself as its strings are linked to the vasooli tantra (extortion racket)," Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi.
"'Zero-tolerance' is also a BJP jumla (rhetoric)," he said, in an apparent reference to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's assertion that the state has zero-tolerance towards crime and corruption.
Referring to the incidents of violence during the panchayat elections, Yadav told a press conference that as the BJP had used officials of the administration during the polls for "political reasons", its government is now defending them.
"A top official posted in Gorakhpur is relative of a BJP leader," he said when asked about a viral video in which the Gorakhpur district magistrate and senior superintendent of police are seen allegedly pressuring Gupta's family not to lodge an FIR.
"When you use the administration's officials for political reasons, how can you take action against them when they do anything wrong," Yadav said.
He said this is not the first incident of police atrocity. Earlier, such incidents have taken place in Lucknow, Jhansi and other parts of the state, the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader said.
"The National Human Rights Commission has served maximum number of notices to the state," he said.
On the accused policemen being at large, Yadav said why is this damdar (strong) government not apprehending these policemen.
"An IPS is also absconding in the state. Such people have been made to abscond by the government, which is helping them," he alleged.
On being asked about the rise in petrol and diesel prices, Yadav said, "Why are they not being brought under the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The BJP has majority in the GST Council as it has governments in states. Why it is not taking a decision."
About use of ballot in elections, Yadav said, "Bring a SP government, and remove electronic voting machines."
"The panchyat polls were held using ballot papers and SP won the majority of seats. In the US also ballot paper is being used," he said.
On the 2022 assembly polls, Yadav said that it is not the just the fight of the SP but "it is the fight to save the country and the Constitution", adding that BJP was humiliating all the sections of society by its behaviour.
He said that even good officers in the state cannot work in the present regime and they were "forced to lie" under government pressure.
