NEW DELHI—Army Jawan Jitendra Malik, accused of being involved in mob violence in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh on December 3 which led to the killing of police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, was arrested by Uttar Pradesh police on Saturday night.
The Indian Army's 22 Rashtriya Rifles had detained and handed over Malik alias Jitu Fuaji to UP Police on Saturday after a purported video showed him allegedly opening fire during the mob violence near Chingravati police post of Bulandshahr.
"You can clearly see him (Jitender Malik) fomenting trouble and instigating the crowd. We have an inkling that this armyman had a role in stone-throwing. Video and testimony are available to place Jitendra Malik at the spot. Why is an armyman instigating the crowd, why should he be raising these slogans?" Anand Kumar, the senior-most officer in UP police, in-charge of law and order told NDTV on Saturday.
According to a report in the Indian Express, the UP Police had made a formal request for Malik's custody after his name surfaced in the killing of the police officer in Bulandshahar. The officer said that Malik was at his hometown in Bulandshahar on vacation. The soldier has been accused of killing the police inspector with his service weapon and has been named in the FIR.
The Uttar Pradesh government has already transferred Bulandshahr SSP Krishna Bahadur Singh and two other policemen for this incident in which one local youth was also killed.
At least eight people have been arrested earlier for the mob violence, which erupted after cow carcasses were found scattered in a forest near a village, an NDTV report said.