Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s Hindu Yuva Vahini is back in the headlines. Not because of what it said about anti-Romeo squads but after the organisation’s Lucknow district convener Akhand Pratap Singh’s car allegedly ran over a one-year-old calf in Janakipuram locality of the city on Wednesday.
A case has been registered against unidentified persons on the complaint of the calf’s owner, Rajrani. A group of men allegedly in an inebriated condition, started their car from near a liquor shop around 7.30 pm. As per a report in the Indian Express, they ran over the calf which was tied nearby along with a cow. Rajrani has alleged that the calf died after it was dragged for about 20 metres.
Rajrani also claimed that after hitting the calf and running until the end of the road, they stopped the vehicle, as there was no way to go any further. Then they left the car and fled. She also added that a few locals also witnessed the incident.
The angry residents later damaged the car and also held demonstrations against the liquor shop.
A case under sections 279 (rash driving) and 429 (mischief by killing or maiming cattle) of the IPC has been registered against unidentified persons. Police said that though the car has been seized, its owner is yet to be identified. “A letter is being sent to the Regional Transport Officer to know its owner. Once we find the owner, we would be able to question him about who was driving the vehicle at the time of the incident,” Janakipuram Station Officer Satish Kumar Sinha said.
Locals, however, claimed that the car belonged to Akhand Pratap Singh, the Lucknow district convener of HYV. When contacted, HYV’s Lucknow district president, Sunil Singh, confirmed that Akhand Pratap was the unit’s district convener. HYV headquarters in charge at Gorakhpur, P K Mall, said he did not know of the incident and would look into the matter.
Though Singh has not come on record for any comments, his sister claimed that he was not in Lucknow and had gone to Sitapur on Wednesday. “The car belongs to him but it was with someone else at the time of the incident,” his sister Priyanka said.
