UP government cracks down on officials, transfers Mainpuri DM for investigation delay

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has transferred the District Magistrate Pramod Kumar Upadhyaya for a delay in the investigation of the death of a schoolgirl. The decision by the state government came a day after the transfer of Mainpuri Police Superintendent Ajay Shankar Rai for a delay in the probe. Mahendra Bahadur Singh, the Additional Commissioner-Sugarcane, has taken over charge as the District Magistrate. 

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SP and DM transferred

A 17-year-old girl student of class 11 was found dead on September 16 in her school's hostel room in Bhogaon area of Mainpuri in UP. The police were informed after the body was discovered by other hostellers. The Police said that the body was found hanging from the ceiling of her hostel room. The family members of the girl have blamed Navodaya Vidyalaya administration for the death alleging that she was badly beaten and murdered.

Later in September, the state government sent a letter to the Union Government asking for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe. The letter read, "The chief minister has issued strict directives to all the senior superintendents of police/superintendents of police that if there is any delay or laxity in the investigation of such serious cases, then stringent action will be initiated. 

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Senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi has also raised the issue and wrote a letter to the CM Adityanath saying, "Her family has said she was murdered. The administration cremated the girl in an unlawful manner in the absence of her father and mother. The family had been raising questions had demanded start of the legal process. They have every right to know what happened with their daughter. Is the administration trying to shield someone?” Priyanka Gandhi is also the Congress General Secretary of Uttar Pradesh East.

(with inputs from PTI) 

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