by Ajay Kumar
Lucknow: Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav is facing backlash over his statement that UP police and STF shoot criminals based on their surnames. Om Prakash Rajbhar, a cabinet minister in the Yogi government, directly targeted Akhilesh regarding the encounter of Anuj Pratap Singh, an accused in the Sultanpur robbery case. Rajbhar said that when a Yadav is killed, the Samajwadi Party speaks up. Former minister Mohsin Raza echoed this sentiment, stating that the SP leader reacts to tweets for the sake of appeasement and caste-based politics.
Regarding the Sultanpur robbery case, Rajbhar said that when a Yadav is killed, the Samajwadi Party raises its voice, but why don’t they speak up when Muslims, Pandits, or Thakurs are killed? He questioned why Akhilesh did not speak when Vikas Dubey was killed. He further stated that there is rule of law here, and under Modi in Delhi and Yogi in UP, anyone who commits wrongdoing will be punished.
Meanwhile, BJP leader and former minister Mohsin Raza mentioned that the STF killed a criminal named Anuj Pratap Singh in an encounter during the Sultanpur robbery case. He noted that Akhilesh Yadav did not issue any tweets or reactions, as this individual is neither from his community nor a specific minority. He added that the definition of the Samajwadi Party is rooted in appeasement and caste-based politics. Congress leader Deepak Singh remarked that the trend of encounters in Uttar Pradesh is peculiar. He pointed out that whenever an encounter occurs, a criminal always manages to escape. While the Yogi government claims zero tolerance for crime, such incidents raise questions.
On August 28, a robbery took place at Bharat Jewelers in Sultanpur, where criminals stole jewelry at gunpoint and fled. In connection with this, police killed an accused named Mangesh Yadav in an encounter. Search operations were conducted for other suspects. ASP Akhilesh Singh stated that today, an STF team engaged in a shootout with the involved criminals, during which one suspect was injured, and another managed to escape. The injured suspect was later identified as Anuj Pratap Singh, who was pronounced dead by doctors at the district hospital in Unnao.
