Vivek Tiwari Death: He put pistol’s nozzle on windshield and fired with intention to kill, says eyewitness in fresh FIR

Two days after the Uttar Pradesh Police had omitted the names two of its personnel in the FIR lodged after the killing of an Apple executive in Lucknow, a fresh FIR was filed on Sunday where two policemen - Prashant Chaudhary and Sandeep Kumar - have been named as prime accused. 

Vivek Tiwari (38), the Area Sales Manager of Apple, was allegedly shot dead on Saturday by constables Prashant and Sandeep while he was going to drop his colleague Sana Khan. The two constables were arrested and dismissed from the job and an FIR was registered in the matter on the basis of a complaint by Khan. The FIR, however, did not mention the two by name, victim's wife Kalpana Tiwari claimed.

Shocking details given by eyewitness in fresh FIR 

The fresh FIR, filed by the wife of the victim, claims that accused Prashant Chowdhary aimed at Tiwari by putting the nozzle of the pistol on the car's windshield. Kalpana said witness Sana Khan told her she was not allowed to call anyone when another police team reached after Vivek’s SUV rammed into the underpass after travelling for nearly half a kilometre.

Kalpana said in the FIR that Vivek Tiwari's vehicle was intercepted by the two cops he was going to drop Sana home at around 1.30 am.

Quoting Khan, the FIR filed by Kalpana said, “I was with my colleague ASM sir, returning home at around 1.30 am when suddenly Prashant Chaudhary and Sandeep Kumar came in front of the car. ASM sir got scared and as he had a female friend with him, he tried to move his car by escaping. At the same time, the constable sitting on the back seat of (their) motorcycle and having a cane in his hand (got off) the motorcycle. Prashant Chaudhary, who was on the front seat, put his pistol against the windshield and fired with intention to kill.”

Sana was also made to sign a blank paper by other cops who arrived after the incident and was asked to write an application which suited the two constables' narrative, the wife said in the FIR. 

“…I cried a lot for help and tried to stop people. I tried my best to save him but the policemen that came neither (were) letting me make (a) call nor receive a call. They pressurized me to sign on a blank paper and later under the pressure of police and media officials made me write on the paper. As I was a lot scared, I wrote whatever they asked me to,” Khan is quoted in the FIR as saying. 

While the constable claimed that he fired at Tiwari's car in self-defence as it tried to run him over, the incident has raised questions over the police's excessive use of force.

UP minister hits out at police for laxity, hushing up the matter

Uttar Pradesh minister Brijesh Pathak who attended the last rites of Vivek Tiwari hit out at the state police for showing "laxity" and "hushing up" the murder.

"The killers deserve to be in jail and they must get stringent punishment. Action should also be initiated against officials who showed laxity in this case and tried to hush up the murder," Pathak told PTI. 

"The death of Vivek Tiwari has shocked us. Even the police could do such a heinous act, I did not expect," he said.

Pathak also talked about the various anomalies reported in the case. 

"The lone eyewitness was kept in police custody for nearly 17 hours and her signature was taken on a plain piece of paper. The FIR was not registered in the way it should had been. There is no consistency between the statement of Sana (who was accompanying the victim) and the FIR. And efforts were made to hush up the case," he said. 

The minister also hit out at those police officials who tried to safeguard the accused cop. 

(With PTI inputs)