A murder FIR was lodged in the early hours of Wednesday against three named and three unidentified policemen in connection with the late-night raid at a Gorakhpur hotel that resulted in the death of a 38-year-old property dealer from Kanpur. All the policemen involved in the raid early on Tuesday have been suspended, though no arrests have been made so far.
A video recorded by Manish Gupta’s family shows them being persuaded by Gorakhpur SP Vipin Tada and District Magistrate Vijay Kiran Anand to not lodge a case, with the promise that the probe will be “unbiased”.
The family, that lives in Burra area of Kanpur, has refused to cremate Gupta’s body till their demands are met. Kanpur Police Commissioner Asim Arun said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who will be in Kanpur on a pre-scheduled visit, will meet the family Thursday. Gorakhpur is Adityanath’s pocketborough. The government has announced compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the family.
The FIR on Gupta’s death, lodged at Ramgarhtal Police Station in Gorakhpur under IPC Section 302 (murder), names (now suspended) Ramgarhtal SHO Jagat Narayan Singh and Sub-Inspectors Akshay Mishra and Vijay Yadav, apart from and three unidentified policemen. In a tweet close to midnight on Wednesday, the UP Police said what had happened was “unfortunate”, adding: “Policemen have been suspended & an FIR has been lodged against them under relevant sections. ADG/DIG/ SSP Gorakhpur have been directed to take action against the guilty after the investigation.”
Police have claimed that Gupta died in a fall while they were searching the premises of Krishna Palace Hotel as part of a routine check. His wife Meenakshi submitted a complaint saying the policemen had misbehaved with Gupta and, when he objected, “he was assaulted, resulting in serious injuries and death”.