A tale of two 'Dabangg' Uttar Pradesh cops

The deeds of these two 'darogas' (inspectors) of the Uttar Pradesh police appeared to be borrowed straight from some Bollywood blockbuster movies though both of them had to eat the humble pie in the end.

Sample this. The residents of Baskhari locality in UP's Ambedkar Nagar district, about 200 Km from Lucknow, were taken by surprise when they saw a huge cavalcade of police and civil vehicles on the road moving in a procession and raising slogans.

It was neither a political rally nor any prominent politician was visiting the area. It was the farewell procession of the in-charge of Baskhari police station in the district Manoj Singh.

Singh had been shunted to another police station in the district after complaints of irregularities. As the video of the procession with Singh sitting in a jeep went viral on the social media, the SHO was suspended.

In another incident, an inspector of UP police got so angry over the failure of the villagers selling vegetables at a rural market to follow social distancing that he drove his official jeep over the heaps of vegetables crushing them under its wheels and ruining the hopes of the poor villagers to earn a few bucks in this time of crisis.

The incident happened at Ghoorpur in Prayagraj district, about 200 Km from Lucknow and the video went viral on social media; later, the district police chief tendered an apology and the state government announced to pay compensation to the farmers. The inspector was suspended.