Sultanpur (UP), Sep 17 (PTI) Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party chief and state minister O P Rajbhar on Tuesday said that if someone opens fire on police, they will not respond with garlands and flowers or ask for Aadhaar card to know about caste but will fire bullets in defence.

Rajbhar, who is also minister in-charge of the district, was asked about the recent encounter of Mangesh Yadav and the Samajwadi Party terming it fake.

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"If someone opens fire on the police, it will not shower garlands and flowers or ask for Aadhaar card to see his caste, it will fire bullets in its defence," he said.

According to the police, Yadav was wanted in connection with a case related to looting a jeweller's shop and was killed in an encounter.

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The Samajwadi Party (SP) alleged that Yadav was killed due to his caste.

Giving data, Rajbhar said in the past seven years, 67 criminals from the Muslim community, 20 from the Brahmin community, 18 from the Rajput community and 17 from the Jat and Gujjar communities were killed in encounters.

"Discussing only Yadav's case in this way is promoting casteism," he said.

Mentioning the incident of Shailesh Rajbhar, who was shot in Ghazipur, the minister said one Sandeep Yadav along with dozens of accomplice fired with rifles and revolvers and no statement (of Samajwadi Party) is coming on that.

Mangesh Yadav is being discussed, but Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi are not discussing Shailesh Rajbhar, who is struggling for life, he said.

About the by-elections due in 10 assembly seats in the state, the SBSP chief said his party did not want any seat in these polls.

He also said in the past seven years, no riots took place in the state.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)