Wife of Apple techie shot dead by UP cop demands CBI inquiry, Rs 1 crore aid, police job

Vivek Tiwari and Kalpana Tiwari in 2015. (Photo: Facebook)


Kalpana Tiwari, the wife of Vivek Tiwari who died after a Lucknow police constable shot him on Friday night, has demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident.

In a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Kalpana has also demanded a compensation of Rs 1 crore and a job in the police department.

Prashant Chaudhary and Sandeep Kumar, the policemen accused of shooting Vivek, have been arrested and charged under Section 302 of IPC. The UP Police have also ordered an SIT investigation into the Vivek’s death.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who is in Gorakhpur, said Vivek’s killing was “not an encounter”.

“It was not an encounter. An investigation will be conducted in this incident. If needed, we will order a CBI inquiry into the incident,” he told reporters.

Calling the incident “unfortunate”, UP DGP OP Singh said the constable’s argument that he shot Vivek under self defence cover “cannot exceed the threat perception”.

“It is a pure crime,” the DGP said.

Lucknow SSP Kalanidhi Naithani said an SIT had been formed which would be led by IG, Lucknow, and would consist of SP (Crime) and SP (Rural), Lucknow.

“I have personally sent a request to District Magistrate for a magisterial inquiry into the incident,” he said.

Speaking to ANI, Anand Kumar, UP ADG Law-Order, said Vivek’s post-mortem had established “a firearm injury from a bullet on the left side of the chin”.

“Stringent action will be taken (against the cops). Law has been violated in this case. If the situation demanded firing of a bullet, it could have been fired at the car tyre; even then it was not right to do so. This is a shameful incident for us,” he was quoted as saying by ANI.

Vivek Tiwari, an assistant sales manager for Apple India, was allegedly shot dead in the wee hours of Saturday by one of the two cops on patrol duty.

The alleged shooting took place at around 1:30 am in Lucknow’s Gomti Nagar area.

The policeman shot at a car on noticing alleged suspicious activity, injuring the driver of the vehicle which then rammed into a wall.

The incident happened when Tiwari was heading home after the launch of iPhone X plus with a female colleague.

Vivek’s body was brought with bullet injury to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital where he succumbed during treatment.

“He (Vivek Tiwari) had a bullet injury near the ear on the left side; he died during treatment,” said Devendra Singh Negi, Director, Lohia Hospital.

Prashant Chaudhary, the constable who shot Tiwari, said he opened fire in self-defence.

“We saw a suspicious car. The lights were off. When we reached the car, whoever was inside it started the car immediately. We parked our bike in front of the car. He hit our bike. I waved at him to stop but he reversed the car and hit us again. We asked him to come out. But he reversed for the third time and hit our bike with full force. I fell and then got up. I drew my pistol to scare him. When he tried to run over me, I had to shoot in self-defence,” Kumar was quoted as saying by NDTV.

Tiwari’s wife Kalpana has accused the police of being “trigger-happy”. She told reporters that she along with her two daughters Shibi and Sonu were informed of “an accident” and that her husband had been taken to the Lohia hospital.

“When we reached there we were told Vivek had died due to excessive bleeding,” she told the media, adding the bullet angle was not even revealed to the family.

Tiwari’s colleague accuses police

However, Tiwari’s colleague said that the police waylaid them and tried to stop them forcefully.

“The police just waylaid us and tried to stop us forcefully. Sir (Vivek Tiwari) didn’t stop the car. We didn’t realise who they were. There was no accident. We were trying to leave from the side. We hit the bike but they had already gotten off the bike. One of them had a lathi. The man in the front just threw a revolver and fired,” NDTV quoted the colleague as saying.

“Car hadn’t stopped anywhere, it was moving. Probably, because a girl was sitting with him and the area was Gomti Nagar, he (the policeman) came from wrong side and shouted on us. It made no sense,” she was quoted as saying by ANI.

The woman had earlier stated she was under no pressure to hide the truth.

Meanwhile, asked to comment on the incident in the light of the controversial encounters in the state under the Adityanath government, Dharampal Singh went around underlining the successes of the BJP government in the state in rooting out crime.

“Encounter me aisi koi galti nahi hui. Usi ko goli lag rahi hai jo vaastav mein criminal hai. Nyay sabko, jo galti karega usko dand milega (No such mistake has happened in encounters. Only those who are actually criminals are receiving the bullet. Justice will be given to all. Those who commit mistakes will be punished),” he said referring to encounters before showering praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chief Minister.