"It's A Crime": UP Police Chief After Lucknow Man Shot Dead By Constable

Vivek Tiwari, an MNC executive, was with a woman when the cops asked them him to stop his car.

In the murder of an employee of an international company by two constables, the Uttar Pradesh police have admitted that "law was violated" and "excessive force" was used. "It's a pure crime," UP police chief OP Singh said today promising speedy justice and strict action against the accused.

The 38-year-old executive, Vivek Tiwari, was shot at in the early hours of Saturday by one of the constables in Lucknow who alleged that he had asked the man to stop his SUV, but instead of doing so, he tried to speed away. After the driver of the SUV hit their patrol motorcycle and even "tried to run over him", he opened fire in "self-defence", the cop alleged.

The victim's co-passenger, however, said they didn't realise that they were being stopped by the police and when they tried to bypass them, their car hit the police bike. One of the cops had a baton, but the other one pulled out a revolver and fired, the woman said.

"Our car hadn't stopped anywhere, it was moving. The policemen came from the wrong side and shouted at us. It made no sense," the woman told the police and filed a First Information Report or FIR against the cops.

Vivek Tiwari was taken to the hospital with a bullet injury on his neck. The bullet hit Mr Tiwari's chin and got stuck between the neck and the head leading to his death due to profuse bleeding, his post-mortem report said today.

Both Prashant Chowdhary and Sandeep Kumar have been arrested and dismissed from service. A case of murder has been filed against them.

"This has been an unfortunate incident. The two constables aren't fit to be part of the police force. We will treat them as criminals. Fair and impartial investigation will be done," Mr Singh said.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has assured a CBI inquiry, if needed.

The UP police, already being criticised for the increasing number of encounters in the state, have called it a "sad incident" and clarified it "wasn't a planned killing".

"Law has been violated in this case. If the situation demanded firing of a bullet, it could have been fired at the car tyre, even then it was not right to do so. This is a shameful incident for us," Anand Kumar, UP's Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) said.

Mr Tiwari's wife Kalpana has accused the police of being "trigger-happy".

"When we reached there we were told Vivek had died due to excessive bleeding," she said adding that the bullet's angle was not even revealed to the family.

"It's a murder," said Tilakraj Tiwari, the victim's uncle, "I've served as a police inspector, I know that a person is never shot in the neck," he added.

According to the police, when the constables at Gomtinagar extension saw a "suspicious-looking car", they approached the SUV, parked their bike next to it and asked the passengers to come out.

"The driver hit our bike. I waved at him to stop but he reversed the car and hit us again. When we asked him to come out, he reversed for the third time and hit our bike with full force. I fell and then got up. Then I drew my pistol to scare him. When he tried to run over me, I had to shoot in self-defence," the constable, who pulled the trigger, told his seniors.

The situation could have been avoided, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Lucknow Kalanidhi Naithani agreed. "That's why we have booked the constables for murder. There is a clear case excessive use of force and totally unacceptable," he added.