Representative image of a police van.
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The death of a man from Bihar in violence-hit Haldwani, who was earlier believed to have been one of the six victims of the violence, was actually murdered by a cop, police have revealed.
According to a report by The Indian Express, the deceased, Prakash Kumar Singh, was murdered by a police constable and his associates over an alleged affair with the constable's wife.
The incident came to light after a body was discovered last Friday, located a few kilometres from the epicentre of the violence in Haldwani, with gunshot wounds to the head.
The body was subsequently identified as that of 24-year-old Prakash, who reportedly had gone to Uttarakhand in search of work, and a murder case was registered.
Subsequent investigations, which checked the deceased's phone number, found that he had been in touch with a youth from Sitarganj, later identified to be one Suraj, and with another number from Uttarakhand.
Prakash had been friends with Suraj for around two years, and during this time, he developed illicit relations with Suraj's sister Priyanka, who happened to be the wife of constable Birendra Singh.
Police told IE that later, Prakash used his videos with Priyanka to blackmail her, which she kept hidden from her husband Birendra.
Priyanka's relationship with Prakash came to Birendra's notice only a day before the 24-year-old's murder: according to cops, Prakash called Birendra a day before he was killed, following which Priyanka told the constable of her illicit relationship with the 24-year-old from Bihar.
Subsequently, Priyanka, Birendra, and his partner Naeem Khan (aka Babloo) "conspired to murder Prakash", as per Nainital Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Prahlad Narayan Meena.
To that end, the trio called Prakash using Priyanka's number, and asked him to meet them at Haldwani, where the incident took place.
"Birendra asked Prakash Kumar to delete her video from his mobile, but when Prakash Kumar refused, constable Birendra along with his colleagues shot Prakash dead…," SSP Meena was quoted as saying on how the murder took place.
Several accused have since been apprehended, including Birendra Singh (36), his partner Naeem Khan (50), his brother-in-law Suraj Bain (28), and his associate Prem Singh (30). Birendra's wife Priyanka, however, is still absconding.
With Prakash's death now attributed to murder, the number of victims in the Haldwani violence stands at five.
Violence had gripped the Uttarakhand town last week after the demolition of a mosque and madrasa by the local administration, which they claimed were constructed illegally on government land.
The demolition sparked a spate of violence in the parts of the town, where stones were pelted and vehicles were torched. Shoot-at-sight orders were also issued in a bid to stymie the violence, and resulted in the deaths of five rioters. The violence also left over a 100 people injured, including police personnel, municipal workers, and mediapersons.