Uttar Pradesh: BJP MLA demands encounter of cops having nexus with criminals

An Uttar Pradesh BJP lawmaker triggered a controversy after he asked the state police to prepare a 'top ten' list of cops having nexus with criminals and dealt with them in the same way as it dealt with dreaded criminals (read encounter).

BJP legislator Rajesh Kumar Mishra, in a letter to the DIG police, Bareilly range Rajesh Pandey, said that the cops were equally responsible for encouraging crimes by hobnobbing with criminals.

He said that the cops had been found to be involved in corruption, illegal mining, smuggling, patronising gambling activities, selling illicit liquor and flesh trade.

''You should prepare a list of ten policemen, who are found to be hand in glove with the criminals, at the police station level....have the list published in the newspapers,'' Mishra said in his letter.

''The state police have gunned down many criminals in encounters...the police personnel having nexus with criminals should also be dealt with in the same way,'' the lawmaker said.

The letter triggered a controversy as it virtually put the cops and criminals in the same league and lent credence to the opposition leaders' allegation that the state police was hand in glove with the criminals.

The letter comes close on the heels of the killing of eight cops by gangster Vikas Dubey and his goons at Bikaru village in Kanpur district. It was suspected that a senior cop had tipped Dubey about the police raid.