New Delhi: A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader has blamed the police recruitment that was done by erstwhile Samajwadi Party government for the killing of Apple executive Vivek Tiwari. Speaking to reporters, BJP Spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said that the incident is a result of the police recruitment done by the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP government on the basis of caste. Also Read - PM Modi Asks BJP Workers to Educate Farmers on 'Intricacies of New Farm Reforms' & 'Save Them From Rumours'

“I don’t want to get into politics at the moment, but this is a result of the police recruitment that was done by the Samajwadi Party government on the basis of caste. The recruitment during the regime of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav were controversial and only people from a certain caste were recruited,” News 18 quoted Tripathi as saying. Meanwhile, he also said that culprits won’t be spared and Yogi Adityanath-led will set an example so that such incidents won’t be repeated. Also Read - India's Covid Vaccine Latest News: Phase-3 Trial of Covaxin to Begin in UP's Lucknow, Gorakhpur From October

Reacting to Tripathi’s statements, Samajwadi Party slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party saying this is not a time to indulge in politics. “BJP has lost its mind and it is now dragging Samajwadi Party into this murder. They should be ashamed of politicizing the murder of a common man who is survived by his wife and two young daughters,”SP Spokesperson reportedly told News 18. Also Read - Farm Bills 2020: BJP to Hold 15-Day Awareness Campaign in Seven States From Today

The Congress party also hit out at the Yogi Adityanath government over the killing of Tiwari. Taking to Twitter, both UP Congress chief Raj Babbar, and Congress media in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala lambasted the state government for taking law into its own hands. Calling the Yogi government an ‘encounter Raj’, the Congress said that the police, guided by the BJP government, was willing to ‘kill innocent people.’

About the case

38-year-old Vivek Tiwari, an assistant sales manager of Apple India was allegedly shot by police personnel in Uttar Pradesh’s capital city Lucknow on Friday night after which his car met with an accident. He later succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment at a hospital. Following the incident, the accused constable, Prashant Chaudhary, has been taken into police custody. A case has been registered against him under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).