New Delhi:
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today met Parveen Azad, the widow of murdered Uttar Pradesh police officer Zia-ul-Haque, and assured the family that they will get justice and an impartial probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The Congress leader drove from Gorakhpur to Deoria to meet Mr Haq's family a week after the tragic incident. He also visited the burial ground of the police officer.
"The entire Congress is with them in this hour of great tragedy and loss and they will get full justice," Mr Gandhi told reporters at the burial ground where he paid tribute to Mr Haq.
The 32-year-old Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) was killed, along with a village headman and his brother, last Saturday allegedly on the orders of Raja Bhaiya, one of Uttar Pradesh senior ministers. Raja Bhaiya, whose real name is Raghuraj Pratap Singh, resigned on Tuesday.
Mrs Azad had said she expects Raja Bhaiya, a legislator from Kunda, to be arrested soon. She had based that expectation on a promise by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who met her on March 4, that all those named in an FIR on the policeman's killing will be arrested.
But Raja Bhaiya was neither interrogated nor arrested by the UP police. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked him and registered four different cases against the former minister on March 7 after taking charge of the probe. The politician will be investigated for criminal conspiracy.
Mr Gandhi, who led his party's campaign in the state last year, lost the assembly elections to Mr Yadav's Samajwadi Party. His visit comes at a time when the opposition is demanding President's rule in the state. BSP chief and former Chief Minister Mayawati says Mr Yadav's government exemplifies "goonda raj" or hooliganism, allegedly instructed and practiced by members of the ruling party.
Raja Bhaiya's inclusion in Mr Yadav's cabinet last year had been a controversial one, especially as the 39-year-old Chief Minister came to power primarily on a promise to rid UP of all its law and order problem. But the government, which will complete one year on March 15, is under pressure after several cases of violence and lawlessness were reported in its first year in power.