Kunda, Uttar Pradesh:
Parveen Azad, the wife of murdered Uttar Pradesh policeman Zia-ul-Haque, visited Kunda today, her first since her husband was killed here earlier this month in the violence that erupted following the murder of a village headman.
Flanked by gun-toting policemen and now a police officer herself, Ms Aazd visited the house where her husband, the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Kunda, used to live to collect his belongings.
Undeterred by the powerful men she's taken on, Ms Azad said that come what may, she will continue to fight for justice. "It does not matter if the guilty is a King or a commoner, he should be punished... I will continue to fight, I will not stop," she said.
She has alleged that former UP minister and Kunda MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya is responsible for her husband's murder. The allegations led to his resignation as minister from the Akhilesh Yadav government.
During the five hours she took to gather her husband's belongings, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) too came calling on Ms Azad, and she had a message for them.
"So far I am satisfied, but if there are delays and deviations then I will not sit quiet," she said.
The CBI, which is probing the case, has registered four cases pertaining to three murders in Ballipur village on March 2 and booked Raja Bhaiya in one of them on the complaint of Ms Azad. The former minister's cousin and Member of State Legislative Council Akshay Pratap Singh has also been questioned in connection with the case.
(Read)Mr Haque was killed on March 2 after he reached the village in Pratapgarh district where the village headman, Nanhe Yadav, had been shot. An angry mob reportedly cornered him, and eight policemen who were with him allegedly abandoned him. Three bullets were fired - one killed Mr Haque; two others killed Mr Yadav's brother.
Pressure is now mounting on the CBI to crack the case; Raja Bhaiya has still not been questioned. Although the agency is more than two months away from its deadline of filing a charge sheet in the case, the CBI realises time is running out.