UP Businessman Who Accused Suspended Mahoba SP of Corruption Succumbs to Bullet Injury

A businessman who had accused Indian Police Service officer Manilal Patidar of extortion succumbed to bullet injuries which had received a week ago in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur on Sunday. The tycoon, identified as Indrakant Tripathi, was found with a bullet injury in his neck in his car on a highway near Mahoba earlier this month and was admitted to a hospital’s critical care unit.

According to a report in NDTV, Tripathi was engaged in mining business in Mahoba, which is over 200 km from the state’s capital Lucknow. Earlier in the month, he had posted a video on social media wherein he had alleged that Patidar was corrupt and had given him threats. In the video, the businessman said that if he were to die, the officer should be held responsible. The magnate’s video had been widely circulated on social media.

Patidar, who was Mahoba’s police chief, was suspended over graft charges on the instruction of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, less than 24 hours after the Tripathi was taken to the hospital. The state government put out a release last week where it stated that Patidar’s actions had maligned the image of the police force, The Indian Express reported.

The former SP had allegedly been illegally asking for money for the functioning of vehicles involved in ballast transportation and when his demands were not met, owners of the vehicles were badgered by the police.

A case of attempt to murder and extortion was lodged against him and two other police personnel after the Tripathi’s family registered their complaint. However, the officer has not been arrested till now. It has also not yet been ascertained as to who shot Tripathi in his Audi car.

“We want that Patidar should be arrested. He is an influential person. He and his people can harm our family,” Tripathi’s brother was quoted as saying by NDTV.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav criticised the Uttar Pradesh government over the incident. In a tweet in Hindi, Yadav said that the state government’s ‘shoot’ policy had sent the state into a void.

“The murder of Indrakant Tripathi, who had revealed corruption in the Uttar Pradesh government, has proved that the government’s ‘thoko’ (shoot) policy, police’s fake encounters and false cases against opposition leaders have sent the state into abyss,” Yadav said.