'Police takes money, kills people': Another UP Minister targets police over Apple executive's murder

UP Minister Rajbhar accused the police of trying to "cover up" the matter and claimed law and order in UP was reduced to a 'joke'.

LUCKNOW: A day after Uttar Pradesh minister Brijesh Pathak attacked the police over the murder of an Apple executive in Lucknow's posh Gomti Nagar area, another state minister has spoken about the state of law and order in UP.

UP Backward Class Welfare Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar on Monday accused the police of trying to "cover up" the matter and claimed law and order in UP was reduced to a 'joke'. 

"A common citizen was murdered by the police. In the name of encounter, the police takes money, and kills people. Crime is making its presence felt in the state, while law and order situation has become a joke. Yogi ji has neither been successful in reducing crime in the state nor he has been able to make the people feel that they are safe," Rajbhar alleged in a tweet.

The minister claimed the state government had "failed completely" on the law and order front.

Leader of key BJP ally, the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), Rajbhar demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the killing of 38-year-old Vivek Tiwari. Vivek was shot on Saturday in Gomti Nagar area of Lucknow when he was going to drop a colleague.

"There should be a CBI probe in this, and stringent action must be initiated against the guilty. Police is trying to cover up the matter," the minister said. 

Earlier, UP Minister Brijesh Pathak had hit out at the state police for showing "laxity" and "hushing up" the murder. "The killers deserve to be in jail and they must get stringent punishment. Action should also be initiated against officials who showed laxity in this case and tried to hush up the murder," Pathak had said. 

"I will also request the honourable court to hand over the entire matter to a fast-track court so that the aggrieved family can get justice soon," he said. 

The state law minister expressed "shock" over the fact that even policemen could indulge in such an act. "The death of Vivek Tiwari has shocked us. Even the police could do such a heinous act, I did not expect," he said. Pathak had also spoken about the various anomalies reported in the case. 

Opposition leaders Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav also targeted the state government over the incident. BSP chief Mayawati alleged the killing was the latest example of how upper caste people were "also facing harassment" under BJP rule. SP chief Yadav claimed "no one is safe" in the state.