A delegation of Congress party led by its state unit chief Ajai Rai on Monday met the family members of Mangesh Yadav, alleged to be a criminal, who was killed by the police in an encounter alleged to be fake.

Rai demanded a judicial probe by a sitting High Court judge in the alleged fake encounter, which has triggered widespread outrage across the country.

While consoling Mangesh’s mother and father, Ajay Rai said that he would provide all possible help. He alleged that the opponents of the government are being killed in the state and there is an atmosphere of anarchy in the state.

SP President Akhilesh Yadav had on Sunday responded to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s attack on the SP without naming him.

He said through X that who should listen to those who are not heard in their own party. Anyway, why feel bad about the words of those who left?

Akhilesh Yadav said that during whose rule the IPS had been absconding for months; there was talk of police stations earning Rs 15 lakh per day.

The BJP members themselves were kidnapping the police and the Penal Code had been replaced by the Bulldozer Code. It is better if they remain silent, said Yadav, also a former Chief Minister of the state.

UP DGP Prashant Kumar has, however, refuted the opposition allegations against the police and said that state police does not conduct encounters on the basis of caste.

“All such allegations are baseless. The police takes action with complete impartiality. I deny all such allegations,” he stressed.

SP President Akhilesh Yadav had accused the state police of taking action on the basis of caste, which the DGP has denied.

In the case of robbery worth Rs 1.5 crore in Sultanpur, the police killed the accused Mangesh Yadav, who had a reward on his head.

Akhilesh Yadav gave a statement that Mangesh was murdered considering his caste. At the same time, Mangesh’s father also alleged that the police picked up Mangesh from the house and shot him dead.

The second mastermind of the case, Vipin Singh, is in the custody of the police. He had surrendered in the court in a case registered earlier. The police team is continuously interrogating him.

On Sunday also he was interrogated in Rae Bareli District Jail. Other accused in the robbery case and the looted goods are being searched, the DGP said.

Meanwhile, BSP chief Mayawati on Monday targeted both BJP and SP over the Sultanpur encounter. She said that both the parties are doing unnecessary politics on crime, criminals and caste, while their stand on these issues is the same.

Mayawati wrote in a post on X that “after the encounter in Sultanpur district of UP, BJP and SP are attacking each other on the issue of law and order, doing unnecessary politics in the name of crime, criminal and caste. Whereas in this matter these two thieves are like cousins.”

She wrote that “Like the BJP rule, the law and order situation in the SP government was many times worse. People have not forgotten that SP goons and mafia used to loot and beat Dalits, other backward classes, poor and businessmen etc. in broad daylight.”

Describing her rule as the best in the state, the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh said, “Whereas in reality, the rule of law in Uttar Pradesh has existed only under the regime of the BSP. People had been given freedom without any discrimination on the basis of caste and religion. Justice was given. No fake encounter, etc. Therefore, everyone should be cautious of the law and order drama of BJP and SP.”