Prayagraj:

A sub-inspector of the Uttar Pradesh Police has been suspended and is being transferred out of the state’s Prayagraj district after a video was widely circulated on social media earlier this afternoon showing a speeding police vehicle running over vegetables laid out on the ground in a rural mandi or market.

“It is a deplorable act,” said Prayagraj police chief Satyarth Anirudh Pankaj, while announcing the suspension.

Two video clips have been viral on social media all day – they are from a village under the Ghoorpur police station in the district. The first video shows a police jeep approaching the vegetable market in reckless speed and with sirens blaring. As people scramble for cover, the vehicle runs over vegetables and fruits lying on the ground. Another video shows the vehicle reversing and then again crushing the remaining vegetables lying on the ground – people are again seen running for cover to avoid the police vehicle being driven in a dangerous manner in a crowded location.

It’s is not clear what prompted this dangerous move by the cops – sources say they had earlier tried to ensure ‘social distancing’ at the mandi but people were unwilling to listen.

Last month, senior officials of the Uttar Pradesh Police had ordered a probe after a mobile phone video showed a team of policemen in western UP’s Meerut overturning vegetable carts in a locality in the city went viral.

The 40-second video, shot from a terrace in a congested neighbourhood in Meerut, shows a policeman, reportedly the in-charge of a police post in the area, leading a huge contingent of police in a march inside the locality. This policeman is accompanied by another cop with a rifle. Many more cops in riot gear follow them.

Many of these policemen overturn vegetable carts placed on the side of the street. The cop leading this force seems to make gestures asking his subordinates to overturn carts as they proceed.