Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA defends accused in Ballia firing incident

An Uttar Pradesh MLA has come out in support of the main accused in Thursday's firing incident in Reoti area of the district that left a 46-year-old man dead.

Jaiprakash alias Gama was killed when Dhirendra Pratap Singh opened fire after a meeting called at Panchayat Bhawan for selection of ration shops was cancelled by the sub-divisional magistrate due to a dispute between members of self-help groups who had gathered there.

BJP MLA from Bairia Assembly seat Surendra Singh on Friday defended Dhirendra Pratap Singh, who is the district unit president of the BJP ex-servicemen cell, and demanded a CB-CID probe in the matter.

"Dhirendra Pratap Singh opened fire in self-defence or else dozens of his family and associates would have been killed... He had no other option. It was a do-or-die situation fro him," the BJP legislator told reporters here.

Surendra Singh, who has made controversial statements in the past, termed the firing incident as "unfortunate and sad" and accused the administration of bias.

He said six people from Dhirendra Pratap Singh's group were injured in the incident and one of them was hospitalised in Varanasi but nobody was listening to them.

The BJP MLA said that he will write to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and also meet him to demand a CB-CID probe.