UP cop's murder: to avoid being questioned, villagers disappear

Kunda, Uttar Pradesh: Ten officials of the CBI landed in Kunda today to investigate the murders of a village headman, his brother, and senior police officer Zia-ul-Haque.

The trio was shot dead within a span of three hours on Saturday, encircling the state's young chief minister, largely because Zia-ul-Haque was assassinated allegedly on the orders of one of his senior ministers, Raja Bhaiya, who is the state legislator from Kunda. Raja Bhaiya, whose real name is Raghuraj Pratap Singh, resigned on Tuesday.

The biggest challenge for the CBI will be in convincing the villagers that witnessed the murders to testify. There were, reportedly, 300 people present when the murders happened.

Many of the men in Balipur, where the shootings took place, have disappeared to avoid being questioned.

Zia-ul-Haque was killed after he reached Pratapgarh where the village headman, Nanhe Yadav, had been shot. An angry mob reportedly cornered him, and eight policemen who were with Zia-ul-Haque allegedly abandoned him. Three bullets were fired - one killed Zia-ul-Haque; two others killed Yadav's brother.

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The police officer's revolver is missing, along with the bullet that hit him in the chest. His cellphone, which could help establish who he spoke to before he died, has also not been found.

Zia-ul-Haque's widow, Parveen Azad, had alleged that Mr Haque was shot thrice. While she has accepted the autopsy report which says there was one bullet injury on the DSP's body, she has demanded a copy of the video recording of the post-mortem.

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Sources say the CBI may ask for the body to be exhumed for a second autopsy.

The investigating agency has not indicated how quickly it will question Raja Bhaiya, who was neither interrogated nor arrested by the UP police before the CBI took over the case.