Bulandshahr violence: Hours after the involvement of a soldier Jitendra Malik in the Bulandshahr violence came into light, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat told the media not to prejudge things without proof. Speaking to media, Rawat said, “Do not prejudge events without evidence. Please come out with facts. If you have facts available, then judge.” Rawat’s reaction to the incident came on Saturday when he was asked to comments on Malik who was accused of shooting the police officer dead during mob violence on December 3. “Lot of times you people (media) have given evidence and based on that evidence, investigations have been done. But do you have any evidence against that 'jawan' (Jitendra) so far?” the Army chief asked while speaking on the sidelines of the Delhi Horse Show.

Meanwhile, Army sources have said that Malik who is also known as Jeetu Fauji was detained by his unit in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday morning. He was detained by the 22 Rashtriya Rifles in Sopore town. A special investigation team (SIT) of the Uttar Pradesh Police was expected to reach Sopore to take him into custody.

Earlier, during a programme in Delhi UP CM Yogi Adityanath said that Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district violence over the alleged illegal slaughter of cattle which left a police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh dead was not mob lynching, it was a tragic accident.

UP government on Saturday transferred Bulandshahr SSP Krishna Bahadur Singh to the DGP office Lucknow, five days after two people, including an inspector, were killed in violence following an alleged cow slaughter incident. Speaking about the same, Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar said that the Senior Superintendent of Police will be replaced by Sitapur SP Prabhakar Chaudhary.

Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, the Station House Officer (SHO) of Syana, and a civilian, Sumit Kumar, were shot dead in Bulandshahr in mob violence on December 3. The violence has been blamed on rightwing Hindu groups which were protesting against cow slaughter.