SP's Youth Brigade general secretary shot dead

LUCKNOW: The city general secretary of the ruling Samajwadi Party's (SP) Youth Brigade (YB) Arvind Yadav was shot dead on Wednesday in Barabanki, 25 kilometers from the state capital. Agitated over the broad daylight killing, supporters of the SP leader-who had 16 criminal cases pending against him-blocked the national highway number II and the main road near the morgue of the district hospital for almost three hours.
Protestors held traffic to ransom and smashed windscreens of dozens of buses and private vehicles passing by the scene as a result of which at least a dozen of their occupants suffered cut wounds. Ironically, scores of police and PAC jawans present at the two locations chose to look the other way, apparently in the absence of any specific instruction from the top on how to deal with the unruly mob comprising ruling party supporters.
The protests were against the local police who were reportedly aware of the dispute which was being seen as the motive for the murder, but did nothing to resolve the crises in time. The modus operandi of the assailants and use of sophisticated firearms to execute the killing suggest that hardened criminals or contract killers were engaged for the murder.
Reports reaching the director general of police (DGP) headquarters here on Wednesday evening said incident took place when Arvind Yadav (30), along with his two associates, were on their way to Nai Basti area when four youths riding two motorcycles intercepted them near the Nagar Palika office building under Kotwali police station of the city. As the trio tried to escape, two of the assailants chased them. While associates of Arvind Yadav managed to flee the scene, Arvind slipped and hit the ground. The assailants then walked up to him and fired at least eight shots. Three of them proved fatal for the 30 years old SP leader.
Two of the four assailants were later identified as Reshu Jaiswal and Pankaj Verma from Barabanki. Allegations are that Arvind had entered into a dispute with Reshu alias Rainku over putting up of a signboard of the party outside a premise in the city, despite objections by the owner of the property on which the signboard was put up. Arvind's associates, who were with him when he was last seen alive, told TOI that he had informed the local police about the dispute but the cops did nothing. Two of the accused too have criminal cases pending against them. Sources said the two sides had been at loggerheads since last few years allegedly over their areas of influence in the city and the shoot out was a result of this tussle over criminal supremacy and the signboard dispute may have served as immediate provocation only.
Scores of agitated supporters of Arvind rushed him to the district hospital where he was declared dead. Rising tempers saw agitated protests against the police for its failure to secure Arvind's life despite being aware of the dispute that led to the murder. As the crowd swelled the agitated mob split into two and held a road blockade at NH (II) and at the main intersection near the morgue of the district hospital. When some of the senior party leaders of Barabanki reached the site, the protestors went berserk. Dozens of buses and private vehicles were left with smashed windscreens and their passengers injured. At least six of the damaged buses which were attached to the UP state road transport corporation (UPSRTC) on contract basis, could be seen parked at the bus station as a tell tail sign of what had happened in the city earlier.