AMETHI: “Akhilesh Yadav’s wish has been fulfilled, a Thakur has been encountered,” said the father of the second Sultanpur jewellery store robbery case accused who was gunned down in an encounter. Expressing his anger and grief, Dharm Raj Singh alleged political motives behind his son Anuj Pratap Singh’s death. “My son has become a victim of politics. He only had one or two cases against him, yet he was encountered.”
Anuj Pratap Singh, a resident of Amethi district’s Janapur village and an accused in the August 28 jewellery store robbery in Sultanpur, was shot dead in a pre-dawn encounter by the Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh Police in Unnao district, officials reported.
Dharm Raj Singh, Anuj’s father, informed that he discovered his son’s death through the media and had not received any official notification.
He further criticized the “selective enforcement” by law authorities.
“There are people with 30 cases against them, yet they remain untouched, but someone with only one or two cases is being encountered. This government can do anything,” he alleged.
He also mentioned that his son had visited their home on May 3 and departed on June 4.
Mangesh Yadav, another accused in the robbery, was shot dead by the STF on September 5, leading to a political controversy. The Samajwadi Party and the Congress labeled the encounter as “fake”.
Akhilesh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party president, claimed that such encounters were motivated by the accused’s “caste” and referred to the STF as “Special Thakur Force” and “Sar-e-aam Thoko Force”. The ruling BJP, however, dismissed Yadav’s remarks as stemming from “frustration”, while the police refuted his allegations.
In a post on X after the September 5 encounter, Yadav said, “It seems that the people involved in the Sultanpur robbery had deep ties with the ruling party. That is why before the fake encounter, the main accused was contacted and made to surrender and other accused were shot in the legs only for show, and one of them was killed on the basis of their ‘caste’.”
“When the main accused surrendered, all the looted goods should also be returned and the government should pay compensation separately,” he had said.
Fake encounters turn the protector into a predator, he had claimed.
“The solution is not fake encounters but real law and order,” Yadav further said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had alleged in a post on X on September 7, “In the states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ‘law and the Constitution’ are being violated by those who have the responsibility to enforce them. The death of Mangesh Yadav in an encounter in Sultanpur has once again proved that the BJP does not believe in the rule of law.”
Ajay Rai, the state unit chief of Congress, visited Mangesh Yadav’s residence and called for a high court judge to investigate the matter.
(With inputs from PTI)