UP cops allegedly plant pistol on man's bike, arrest him for arms smuggling

Two police personnel have been removed from their place of posting in Meerut and sent to the police lines for allegedly placing a pistol in a motorcycle and later arresting the two-wheeler's owner on a charge of carrying the firearm illegally, officials said on Thursday.

The youth was arrested on Tuesday.

Family members of the youth alleged that two police personnel -- Dinesh and Santosh -- searched their house in Khudawali village claiming that they had information about illegal arms kept there.

They recovered a country-made pistol kept in a bike. However, the CCTV footage was scanned and it was found that the two police personnel themselves kept the arms in the bike, the youth's kin alleged.

The family members approached Inspector General of Police Nachiketa Jhan and showed him the CCTV footage after which Senior Superintendent of Police Rohit Singh Sajwan was asked to probe the matter, an official said.

Based on the CCTV footage, the two accused policemen were removed from their place posting at Kharkhauda police station and sent to the police lines. ASP (Rural) Kamlesh Bahadur was probing the matter, Sajwan said.

Reacting to the incident, Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav, in a post on social media site X, said, "First they keep it themselves and then recover it, their raid and detention is false".