Bulandshahr violence: Delhi Taxi Driver Prashant Natt Arrested, Family Cries Foul

The Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday arrested the key accused in the killing of police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, who was shot dead during mob violence in Bulandshahr on December 3. The police claimed that Prashant Natt was arrested after his identification from a series of videos of the violence shot from mobile phones.

The police reportedly took Natt and his alleged accomplice to Kalwa for recreating the crime scene. The police said that all the accused in the incident were from the Chingrawathi village, of which four are in jail now. Initially, the key accused was the Bajrang Dal District Convenor Yogesh Raj, but he is still at large.

Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Bulandhshahr city, Atul Kumar Srivastava told Newsclick, "Prashant Natt, who shot police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh was arrested on Thursday. He has confessed his involvement during interrogation. He said that he was the one who fired at Subodh Kumar. Further investigation is underway. Meanwhile, he has been sent to the judicial custody in the morning." 

A police official said Natt, a resident of Chingrawathi village of Siyana, was held from Sikandrabad, near the highway that leads to Noida, at around 2.30 pm. He works part time as a driver in Delhi and nearby areas, and at other times, he works locally as a labourer, the official said.

“Prashant and other protesters, identified as Rahul, David and Johnny, cornered Subodh in the fields, and attacked him with stones,” Bulandshahr Senior Superintendent of Police Prabhakar Chaudhary told The Indian Express. “He fired in self-defence. The bullet hit Sumit…by this time, Subodh was grievously injured, and had little energy left to defend himself.”

Chaudhary said Prashant took Singh’s revolver and shot him in the head, and has confessed to the crime, he claimed. “His confession has been corroborated by other accused who submitted surrender pleas in the last week,” he added. But the revolver is yet to be recovered, PTI reported.

The police officer said several other accused mentioned Natt’s name during interrogation. “We kept this part of the investigation secret to prevent information from being leaked to him,” he added.

Meanwhile, Moolchand, elder brother of accused Prashant said that his brother was not involved in this case. He is being made a scapegoat, he alleged. “The police did not arrest him from Noida, but Natt himself surrendered from Kasna,” he said.

A police inspector and another local, Sumit, were killed in the mob violence that broke out in Bulandshahr on December 3 after cattle carcasses were reportedly found in a field. Right-wing groups allegedly demanded action against some locals, and blocked traffic on a main road after which a police team rushed to the scene, only to be attacked by an infuriated crowd. Singh was shot dead in the ensuing clashes.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had first called the violence an "accident", but later said that it was a big political conspiracy.

Read more: Bulandshahr Violence: Who’s Accountable for 16 Days of Trauma we Faced, ask ‘Framed’ Muslim Boys