A Muslim transport businessman was allegedly killed outside his warehouse on Saturday, earlier this month, in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra. The deceased’s family alleges that the tax officers were collusive in the act.
The deceased, identified as Asgar Ali, was travelling to Jaipur with a driver named Lokendra on April 3 when their vehicle was allegedly stopped by state tax officer Reshu Tripathi near the Korai toll and asked for the e-way bill, which is mandatory for transporting goods valued over Rs. 50,000.
However, according to the first information report (FIR), despite showing the documents, the officer allegedly detained Ali and sent the driver and the truck back to the State Tax Department in Agra.
Following the incident, the deceased’s son, Abdul Ali, lodged a complaint on Wednesday, earlier this month. In his complaint he named three officers, Nivedita Singh, her husband Ajay Pal Yadav, and Reshu Tripathi.
Abdul revealed that his father Asgar Ali informed the family about the incident over a phone conversation and said that he felt danger.
“We tried calling him several times throughout the night but didn’t get an answer,” Abdul said, as reported by siasat.com.
The next day in the wee hours, at around 5 am, they received a call from the police that Ali’s lifeless body was found dead near the warehouse.
The police said that the victim was struck by an unknown vehicle and suffered fatal injuries. The victim was rushed to SN Medical College Hospital via ambulance, where he was declared dead. The postmortem was conducted, and further investigations are still underway.
Earlier than the incident, as alleged by the victim’s son Abdul, his father had previously filed a police complaint against state tax officer Nivedita Singh for illegal extortion, harassment, and abuse of power. The investigation in the case is still underway.
He further alleged that Sing and her husband, Yadav, pressured Ali to withdraw the complaint and repeatedly made threatening calls by persons identified as Kamran Warsi, Ravi Yadav, and Dinesh Solanki, who warned the victim of “dire consequences” if the complaint was not withdrawn.
Speaking to the media, Abdul said he wants police to take strict action against the accused Tripathi, Singh, and Yadav.
Meanwhile, police said on Thursday that the case has been registered under relevant sections and that the Police Commissioner of Agra met with the grieving family members.
“Investigation is underway on all aspects of the incident from the time it occurred. If the involvement of any person is found, action will be taken against the guilty under the relevant sections of the BNS,” Agra Police said on X.
