Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday alleged that the Noida Police has been engaged in fake encounters and police officers will go to jail in future.
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister made the remark when asked about law and order situation during a visit to Noida.
Criticising the BJP government in the state over freedom of speech and expression, Yadav cited the case of folksinger Neha Singh Rathore, who has been issued a notice by the UP Police on her latest song "UP me ka ba" in which she raised the matter of self-immolation by a woman and her daughter in Kanpur Dehat.
"Recently Neha Rathore sang a song 'UP me ka ba' and then what happened with her? If you (media) also show the truth, you will also get served with notice, or the Noida Police will pick you up," Yadav told reporters.
When a reporter told him that criminals were saying they wouldn't come to Noida because of the fear of police encounters, Yadav retorted: "These are fake encounters and you will see that a lot of police officers will go to jail when the time comes."
The reporter had referred to an encounter on Thursday night between the Noida Police and an alleged criminal carrying a reward of Rs 25,000 on his arrest.
After the encounter, a purported video of the injured criminal appeared on social media in which he was heard saying "Please leave me, I won't come to Noida again." When contacted by PTI, Police Commissioner Laxmi Singh's office refused to respond to the charge, saying it was a political comment.
Joint Commissioner Ravi Shankar Chhabi also told PTI that he cannot respond to political comments.
-With PTI Input
