IAS aspirant's family blames UP cops for his death

The family of the IAS-aspirant, who was allegedly killed in police firing during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests here on December 20, has lodged a complaint against six policemen for the incident.

On December 20, when violence erupted in the Nahtaur village in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor district,  Anas, 21, and Suleiman, 20, were allegedly hit by bullets fired by the police.

The two were taken to a local hospital where Anas was declared dead on arrival and Suleiman succumbed to his injuries during treatment.

Later, the Uttar Pradesh Police admitted that their bullets killed only Anas and not Suleiman.

Suleiman's family has now filed a complaint against the six policemen alleging that he was shot by police bullets during the anti-CAA protest.

According to the complaint, Suleiman's family alleged that he was returning home after Friday prayers when he was accosted by Station House Officer (SHO) Rajesh Solanki, Bijnor in-charge Aashish Tomar as well as some constables.

The family claims that the policemen dragged Suleiman to a lane where a constable, identified as Mohit, shot Suleiman at the behest of other police officers.

The complaint also claims that the incident was witnessed by many people in the area who are apparently afraid to speak up against the cops.

Suleiman's family has also claimed that the police left him to die in the lane and when the family took him to a local hospital, he was declared dead.

After this, the police took the corpse for a post-mortem and then handed over the body to the family on December 21.

The police allegedly did not allow the family to bury Suleiman's body in his native village Nahtaur.

Suleiman, 20, was preparing for his civil services entrance exam and had nothing to do with the the anti-CAA protests.

Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Om Prakash Singh has admitted that only one person has died in the police firing in the state.

Bijnor was one of the districts in Uttar Pradesh affected by violence during a demonstration against the CAA where protesters and the security forces clashed.

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has already set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) that will probe cases of violence during the recent protests against the CAA in the state.