Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav launched a fierce attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh, criticising its handling of police encounters amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the death of Mangesh Yadav, an accused in a robbery case.
In a sharply worded post on X, Yadav accused the BJP of staging fake encounters and manipulating the justice system, particularly targeting individuals based on caste.
“A pattern of encounters has been set in BJP rule,” Yadav wrote, accusing the BJP of systematically staging fake encounters.
He outlined a purported method where the ruling party selects a target, fabricates a story, and then pressures the victim’s family to remain silent, while using media propaganda to support their narrative.
Uttar Pradesh’s director general of police, Prashant Kumar, has dismissed these accusations, saying that the police operate impartially and do not engage in caste-based actions. “The police do not engage in such things… they are taking action impartially,” Kumar said during a media interaction in Lucknow.
Mangesh Yadav was wanted in connection with Rs 1.5-crore daylight robbery at a jewellery store in Sultanpur. Yadav, along with four accomplices, had allegedly robbed the store in Thatheri Bazaar. The police announced 1 lakh reward for his capture.
The police claim that Mangesh Yadav was killed during a retaliatory firing during an encounter led by an STF team early Thursday morning in Sultanpur. Additional Director General (Law and Order) Amitabh Yash stated that he was involved in numerous cases of loot, robbery, and theft across Jaunpur, Sultanpur, and Pratapgarh districts between 2021 and 2024.
But Akhilesh Yadav suggested that the encounter was staged to cover up police excesses and distract from pressing issues. “The more the BJP with its forces tries to prove such encounters to be true, the bigger the lie that encounter actually is,” Yadav said in his post.
“Then get your so-called big BJP leaders, who are experts in lying, to make irrational statements to justify such illegal encounters,” Yadav added. “When public anger grows, conduct a formal, superficial investigation and bury the matter,” he said.
Former IPS officer Amitabh Thakur has also raised doubts about the authenticity of the encounter, pointing to a photograph of a senior police officer wearing slippers during the incident. Thakur questioned how such footwear would be practical in a high-speed chase.
“A picture of DK Shahi has surfaced in which he is seen wearing slippers at the time of the alleged encounter of Mangesh Yadav. The design of the slippers is such that running, chasing etc is impossible in them,” he said in a video statement.
The Sultanpur encounter is the latest in a series of such incidents in Uttar Pradesh, where the police have intensified their crackdown on criminals. While the BJP government presents these encounters as successes in combating crime, opposition parties have voiced concerns over the rising number of extrajudicial killings.
