UP encounter row: Akhilesh rushes to Jhansi to meet 28-year-old's family

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday rushed to Jhansi to meet family members of 28-year-old Pushpendra Yadav who was shot dead in an alleged encounter.

While the police say Pushpendra opened fire at an officer, his family claims he was killed as he refused to pay a bribe.

Pushpendra's family and the Samajwadi Party have accused the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh government of murdering him.

SP sources said that Mr Akhilesh Yadav, along with party chief spokesperson Rajendra Choudhury, has left for Jhansi by road. They will meet the family members of Pushpendra and after staying at circuit house in the night will return to Lucknow on Thursday.

The Jhansi Police tweeted a list of cases filed against Pushpendra, to support their claims of his criminal past.

In a separate tweet, the police also claimed that Pushpendra's truck was fined twice in 2018 for illegal mining with the latest chalan as recent as September 29.

Pushpendra was cremated by the police late on October 7 after his family refused to take his body till a murder case is lodged against the officer who shot him.

Additional Superintendent of Police, Jhansi, Rahul Mithas said the body was cremated in the presence of a Magistrate after the family refused to receive it till as late as 2000 hrs on October 7.

''The body was decomposing,'' he said.

The family members have been sitting in protest after Pushpendra  was shot dead by police on the intervening night of October 5 and 6. They questioned the police version and termed the encounter a "cold-blooded murder".

The Samajwadi Party in an official tweet had alleged that the forced cremation of  Pushpendra was an attempt by the BJP government to save the culprits. The party also demanded registering  a case against SHO Dharmendra Singh Chauhan under section 302 of the IPC for Pushpendra's murder and demanded an inquiry by a sitting-judge in the matter.

According to the Jhansi police, station house officer of Moth, Dharmendra Singh Chauhan, had on September 29 seized a truck belonging to Yadav in an alleged illegal mining case.

On the night of October 5, Chauhan, who was returning to Jhansi from Kanpur in his private car after two days' leave, received a call from Pushpendra regarding his seized truck.

Chauhan then reached the Bamrauli intersection to meet Pushpendra, who then allegedly shot at the officer as soon as he rolled down his window pane.