An irate mob beat up a police officer and a Home Guard on Sunday, suspecting them of being involved in the death of a local, Gajraj Singh. Singh’s body, with an injury on the left side of the head, was found on the fields of Mandhana on Sunday morning.

The twist: While the locals say Singh was last seen in the company of the policemen, the cops say he had died in an accident and there is an eyewitness to the incident too. Still, Deputy Inspector General of Kanpur Hari Ram Sharma suspended Constable Ram Kishore Patel and recommended similar action against Home Guard Ram Sanjeevan Bajpai. District Magistrate Anil Kumar Sagar has also ordered a Magisterial Inquiry.

According to locals, Singh, who worked as a security guard in a poultry farm owned by Satendra Katiyar, left the farm on Saturday evening along with Patel and Bajpai and did not return.

Lajjawati, who resides near the farm told mediapersons: “Around 7 pm, Patel and Bajpai came to purchase a chicken, and Singh left the farm along with them.” According to her, Patel and Bajpai frequently visited the farm. Savitri, the wife of the deceased, claimed that she had no information about her husband since Saturday afternoon.

On their part, the police and district authorities claim that after purchasing the chicken, Patel and Bajpai returned to their duty at Mandhana police picket, while Singh stayed back at the poultry farm.

DIG Sharma asserted that the violence was a fallout of the rumours spread by few locals. Later, District Magistrate Anil Kumar Sagar and Sharma held a joint press conference to say that Singh had died in a road mishap. “Neither did Singh die in police custody as claimed by the locals, nor any other mark other than the head injury could be traced on his body,” said Sagar.

“At 9:24 pm on Saturday, we got a call on the police control number from one Virendra Kumar Mishra, an eyewitness to the road mishap involving a Tempo (UP 78 BN 5393) and a stationary DCM truck in Mandhana area,” said Sharma. “Mishra claimed that a person sitting on the front seat of the tempo had been critically injured.”

The Bithoor police team arrested tempo driver Govind Singh and recovered the three-wheeler on Saturday night, but could not trace Singh’s body till Sunday morning. “Mishra has identified Singh as the person injured in the mishap,” said Sharma. According to the police, after escaping from the site, the tempo driver threw Singh’s body on the field.