Bulandhshar Violence: Soldier Allegedly Involved In Firing Arrested; Don't Prejudge, Says Army Chief

 A soldier allegedly involved in the Bulandshahr firing in Uttar Pradesh in which a police Inspector and a civilian were killed was arrested by Uttar Pradesh police on Sunday after he was detained by his unit in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.

Jitendra Malik alias Jeetu Fauji was detained by the 22 Rashtriya Rifles in Sopore town.

"We've arrested Army jawan Jitendra Malik. He was handed over by Army at 12:50 am today. Preliminary interrogation has been done. He is being sent to Bulandshahr and will be produced before court for judicial custody," said senior officer Abhishek Singh in Meerut, according to a report in NDTV.

Malik was in his hometown of Bulandhshahr on a 15-day leave, when the mob violence took place. His face can be seen in various video clips from the incident that have surfaced so far.

Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, the Station House Officer (SHO) of Syana, and a civilian, Sumit Kumar, were shot dead in Bulandshahr in mob violence on December 3. The violence has been blamed on rightwing Hindu groups which were protesting against cow slaughter

Don't prejudge without proof: Army chief

Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Saturday told the media to not "prejudge" things without proof in the alleged involvement of a soldier in the case.

"Do not prejudge events without evidence. Please come out with facts. If you have facts available, then judge," Gen Rawat said when asked for his comments after a soldier, Jitendra Malik. was accused of shooting the police officer dead during mob violence on December 3.

"Lot of times you people (media) have given evidence and based on that evidence investigations have been done. But do you have any evidence against that 'jawan' (Jitendra) so far?" the Army chief asked while speaking on the sidelines of the Delhi Horse Show.

with inputs from IANS