By IANS,
Lucknow : Family members of slain Uttar Pradesh police constable Krishnanand Rai Monday alleged that the policemen hurried through his cremation and did not allow them to have a last glimpse of the body.
Rai died in a gunfire Saturday night when a mob led by state Fisheries Minister Jamuna Nishad attacked a police station in Maharajganj district in eastern Uttar Pradesh and scuffled with the policemen.
Soon after the incident, Chief Minister Mayawati sacked Nishad from her cabinet.
Inspector V.P. Singh filed a First Information Report against Nishad, one of his associates and 50 “unknown people” Sunday morning.
The elder of Rai’s two daughters, Deepika, who is pursuing a B.Pharma course from a private college in Chennai and is currently at home on a vacation, alleged that senior police officials kept the family in the dark about her father’s injuries and death.
“They kept telling us that he has been sent to the Sanjay Gandhi Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, for treatment but actually took his body to the cremation ground here in Dohrighat without informing us. We were not able to see his face for the last time,” Deepika told IANS.
Her younger sister, Supriya, has cleared Class 10 examinations this year, while their mother, Rambha, is a nurse at a government hospital in Maharajganj.
The Maharajganj police claimed to have gathered vital clues regarding the firing incident late on Saturday night. “We have made substantial progress and hope to solve the case soon,” Superintendent of Police Prashant Kumar told IANS by phone, but refused to give details.
Police sources said that over a dozen people have been picked up from Maharajganj, Gorakhpur and adjoining areas and were being questioned at an undisclosed place.