Bulandshahr violence: Former Ola driver named as main accused in UP cop’s killing

Former Ola cab driver Prashant Natt, was arrested from his in-laws’ home in Greater Noida

BULANDSHAHR, Dec 28:  Subodh Kumar Singh, the Uttar Pradesh police officer, who was killed by a mob following cow slaughter in Bulandshahr earlier in December , was attacked with stones, sticks, bludgeoned with an axe before he was shot dead with his licensed revolver, according to police sources. Attempts were also made to set his jeep on fire, they added.

The officer was first hit with a rock by a mob of around 400 people. According to the police Bajrang Dal activist Yogesh Raj, who has been missing since December 3 when violence erupted just 20 metres from the police station, and another man called Kalua were responsible for instigating the mob

These details were unraveled after the police arrested the main accused who, the police claim, had pulled the trigger. Prashant Natt, who till six months ago was driving an Ola cab in Delhi , was arrested from his in-laws’ home in Greater Noida on Thursday. According to the police he has confessed to shooting Subodh Singh.

Subodh Kumar Singh was attacked by a mob when he and his team had gone to a village to defuse tension after cow carcasses found in a forest. The protests escalated after activists of right-wing group Bajrang Dal came to the area and blocked a road with a truck carrying the dead cows. Singh was trying to diffuse the tension when Kalua reportedly attacked him with an axe. The cop’s finger was chopped off first before he was struck in the head. The officer tried to escape but the accused dragged him to the fields, where Prashant Natt took out Subodh Kumar Singh service revolver and shot him dead, police said.

The men continued to hit him with sticks even as his fellow officers tried to rescue Singh. They put him in the jeep to take him to the hospital, but the mob stone-pelted the vehicle, forcing the cops to run away and save their lives, revealed an officer.  The mob even tried to set the vehicle on fire, but the cops returned and took Subodh Kumar out and rushed him to the hospital where he was declared dead.  The postmortem report said he was shot at point-blank range above left eyebrow and had several fractures.

The police have named 27 people in the first information report of the incident. Over 20 of them, including an Army man, have been arrested. But Prashant Natt was not named in the FIR.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Bulandshahr, Prabhakar Chaudhary, said it was deliberate. “Prashant Natt had always been the main accused. He along with his wife and children went missing after the incident. We kept it under wraps as we didn’t want to alert him. His role became clear after the special investigation team (SIT) analyzed the video footage, collected evidence, spoke to eyewitnesses and those arrested,” Mr. Chaudhary told the media. Natt’s brother, however, claims that he is being made a scapegoat by the police.

Subodh Kumar Singh, the Uttar Pradesh police officer, who was killed by a mob following cow slaughter in Bulandshahr earlier in December , was attacked with stones, sticks, bludgeoned with an axe before he was shot dead with his licensed revolver, according to police sources. Attempts were also made to set his jeep on fire, they added.

The officer was first hit with a rock by a mob of around 400 people. According to the police Bajrang Dal activist Yogesh Raj, who has been missing since December 3 when violence erupted just 20 metres from the police station, and another man called Kalua were responsible for instigating the mob

These details were unraveled after the police arrested the main accused who, the police claim, had pulled the trigger. Prashant Natt, who till six months ago was driving an Ola cab in Delhi , was arrested from his in-laws’ home in Greater Noida on Thursday. According to the police he has confessed to shooting Subodh Singh.

Subodh Kumar Singh was attacked by a mob when he and his team had gone to a village to defuse tension after cow carcasses found in a forest. The protests escalated after activists of right-wing group Bajrang Dal came to the area and blocked a road with a truck carrying the dead cows. Singh was trying to diffuse the tension when Kalua reportedly attacked him with an axe. The cop’s finger was chopped off first before he was struck in the head. The officer tried to escape but the accused dragged him to the fields, where Prashant Natt took out Subodh Kumar Singh service revolver and shot him dead, police said.

The men continued to hit him with sticks even as his fellow officers tried to rescue Singh. They put him in the jeep to take him to the hospital, but the mob stone-pelted the vehicle, forcing the cops to run away and save their lives, revealed an officer.  The mob even tried to set the vehicle on fire, but the cops returned and took Subodh Kumar out and rushed him to the hospital where he was declared dead.  The postmortem report said he was shot at point-blank range above left eyebrow and had several fractures.

The police have named 27 people in the first information report of the incident. Over 20 of them, including an Army man, have been arrested. But Prashant Natt was not named in the FIR.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Bulandshahr, Prabhakar Chaudhary, said it was deliberate. “Prashant Natt had always been the main accused. He along with his wife and children went missing after the incident. We kept it under wraps as we didn’t want to alert him. His role became clear after the special investigation team (SIT) analyzed the video footage, collected evidence, spoke to eyewitnesses and those arrested,” Mr. Chaudhary told the media. Natt’s brother, however, claims that he is being made a scapegoat by the police.