Ballia firing case: After hurling abuses at inspector, murder accused claims innocence in viral video

VARANASI: While the police and authorities remain clueless about his whereabouts, Ballia firing case main accused Dhirendra Pratap Singh, on Saturday released a video of him claiming innocence.
In the video, Singh is heard saying that he did not open fire and was forced to flee following threats to his life.
In the video, reportedly recorded on Friday, Dhirendra claimed that he had cautioned officials about malpractices in allotment of fair price shops.He said that when firing started, he was standing before SDM and CO. Later, the officials caught him while his family members were being thrashed amidst indiscriminate firing by his rivals, said Dhirendra claiming that he was caught by CO but he escaped fearing threat to his life. He accused the district administration and police of taking one-sided action against him and destroying his hard earned properties.
Meanwhile, an audio clip of Dhirendra has also gone viral. In the audio clip, Dhirendra is heard hurling abuses at local supply inspector Durga Yadav.
In the clip, he is heard asking Yadav that why were the previous allotment of fair price shop were not cancelled despite repeated calls by `Vidhayakji’ (MLA) in this regard. The supply inspector asks Dhirendra to speak to SDM in this regard. However, dissatisfied with Yadav's explanations, Dhirendra started challenging him to come to his village and sprayed abusive words on him.
BJP MLA from Bairia, Surendra Singh has come out in support of Dhirendra and his family members. He reached hospital to see the injured family members of Dhirendra on Saturday. The MLA urged the officials to ensure a transparent probe into the Durjanpur incident.
Police have arrested Dhirendra’s cousin Devendra Pratap Singh and six other accused in connection with October 15 incident.
A total of eight identified and 25 unidentified persons have been made accused in this case.