Lucknow: Several police personnel have been suspended after they rose in revolt following the sacking and arrest of Prashant Chaudhary and Sandeep Yadav – two cops involved in the killing of Apple’s area manager Vivek Tiwari on September 29 apparently for not stopping for checking.

On Friday, a large section of the police force, men and women, drawn from several police stations of the state reported to duty sporting black bands on their arms in solidarity with the accused cops. 

After the images of the police personnel sporting black arm bands went viral, DGP OP Singh’s office, which had earlier claimed that most of those pictures were morphed and lifted from other places, ordered a probe. Tiwari’s widow Kalpana also demanded action against the cops.

According to The Times of India, the call for the protest was given by Avinash Pathak and Brajendra Yadav. Both of them have been arrested and dismissed from service on Friday for “anti-police” activities.

Three SHOs — Ajay Kumar Yadav from Aliganj, Dharmesh Kumar Shahi from Guddamba and Parshuram Singh from Naka — have also been removed by SSP Kalanidhi Naithani in Lucknow. 

Three constables — Jitendar Verma (Aliganj), Sumit Kumar (Guddamba) and Gaurav Chaudhary (Naka) — were suspended for breach of peace. 

Naithani said that the cops in the photographs are being identified and action will be taken against them, as reported by The Times of India.

Another constable Sarvesh Chaudhary from Etah district was suspended for posting a video against his seniors for not supporting junior cops. 

“You have to pay the price for going against system. In this country, everyone has the right of freedom of expression. I merely exercised mine,” Sarvesh told the media organisation. 

Samajwadi Party (SP) spokesperson Rajiv Rai told MyNation that chief minister Yogi Adityanath had failed the state and its people. “The law and order in the state is completely broken. Yogi has lost control of the police and other departments too. He is no more in control of his government,” Rai said.

Meanwhile, DIG (law and order) Praveen Kumar Tripathi said no indiscipline will be tolerated in the force. Also, fresh guidelines for the use of social media by men in uniform have been issued by the UP Police chief.