india

Updated: Dec 20, 2018 23:08 IST

Investigators have found an Uttar Pradesh Police constable guilty of unprovoked firing that left a 38-year-old executive with an American multinational tech firm dead in Lucknow on September 29.

Apple executive Vivek Tiwari was shot dead after two police constables on motorcycle patrol stopped him while he was driving back home. The killing provoked outrage as it followed a spate of alleged extra-judicial killings of suspected criminals in Uttar Pradesh. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had announced a “zero-tolerance” fight against criminals after taking office in March 2017.

A seven-member special investigation team, which was constituted to probe the killing, has concluded that constable Prashant Chowdhary shot Tiwari dead “without any immediate threat to his life”.

“Chowdhary has been found guilty of murdering Tiwari without any provocation. The probe has revealed that the second constable had no common intention to kill Tiwari,” said inspector general Sujeet Pandey, who headed the SIT. He underlined the killing was not a result of a planned conspiracy but happened on the spur of the moment.

In its 16-page report submitted to police chief Om Prakash Singh on Wednesday, the SIT exonerated Chowdhary’s colleague, constable Sandip Kumar, who was with him when Tewari was shot dead, from the murder. Kumar has been charged under IPC section 323 for “voluntarily causing hurt” to Tiwari’s ex-colleague, Sana Khan, who was with him when he was killed. Chowdhary has been charged under IPC’s section 302 (murder).