LUCKNOW, Aug 21:
Senior Uttar Pradesh Minister Mohammad Azam Khan is once again in the limelight over the VVIP treatment given by police to his buffaloes. A close confidant of Mr Khan and a state minister rank Samajwadi Party leader Sarfaraz Khan is reported to have asked the Saharanpur police to look after the buffaloes during its transit stay.
A senior police officer of the district told UNI today the buffaloes, which came from Punjab was kept in the animal shed near the Gagalheri Police station.
“ Some police might have gone to the place as the state minister Sarfaraz Khan was there looking after the well being of the buffaloes,” the officer disclosed. However the media report from Saharanpur said the policemen of Gagalheri police station had to leave all the law and order work to serve the five new buffaloes of Azam Khan which were on transit from Punjab to Rampur yesterday. ‘The policemen themselves served food and fodder to the buffaloes besides making arrangements to ensure that they were safe from mosquitoes and insects during the night,’ the report claimed.
Senior Superintendent of Police(SSP) of Saharanpur Rajesh Pandey too admitted before the media that the buffaloes belonged to Mr Khan.The buffaloes left for Rampur this morning at 0400 hrs, the officer said.
This was the second incident in past one year revolving around the buffaloes of Mr Khan.
In January, seven buffaloes from Mr Khan’s farm house in Rampur were stolen leaving the UP police in a tizzy. Later, the thieves were arrested and the missing buffaloes returned. But the recent incident has given the opposition BJP an opportunity to target the Akhilesh Yadav Government over the deteriorating law and order situation in the state. ‘Such incidents only prove that the ministers are using the police for their own personal work and thus forcing the police to defy their law and order duty,’ UP BJP spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak alleged.
Mr Pathak said police is being engaged as ‘ Chakar’ (personal helper) of the ministers which is unfortunate and a violation of the service rule too.
He also questioned Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s statement yesterday claiming Azam Khan to be the most faithful and trusted leader of the Samajwadi Party as well as of the government.
‘If this is the act of the most faithful and trusted Minister of the Government, then God save the people,’ the spokesperson further commented.
Following the media hype over his stolen buffaloes, Mr Azam had commented that such publicity to his buffaloes would have made ‘Queen Victoria go green with envy’. The Government had suspended three policemen at that time for the missing buffaloes incident. (UNI)
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