Uttar Pradesh police on Sunday repeated their claim that hoodlums were to blame for all the firing deaths during the anti-citizenship law protests, but a former director-general of police suggested that at least some of these bullets were fired by the cops.

Ex-DGP Vikram Singh further alleged that the “use of force by the police was malicious and vindictive” and said the officers who allowed their men to hit the protesters in the head with their batons should be “brought to book”.

Current DGP Om Prakash Singh, however, continued to insist that the security forces had not fired a single bullet during the protests.

Videos beamed on news channels and posted on social media have shown police and Rapid Action Force personnel firing in the air, while eyewitnesses have alleged the forces also fired on the crowds. Some protesters claim to have also seen “mysterious people” within the crowds whip out pistols and fire.

“So far 15 people have died in the cross-fire between groups among the protesters. I never asked the force to fire,” O.P. Singh said, without explaining who the battling groups were.

Reports collated state-wide suggest that 16 people have died during the protests, about half of whom suffered bullet wounds while the rest mainly had head injuries from bricks, stones or sticks apart from a child who was crushed in a stampede.

Police sources in Meerut said that three of the five deaths that occurred in the city during Friday’s protests were caused by bullet injuries. They added that doctors had recovered the bullets at hospitals, but would not say who fired the shots.

Vikram Singh, the former DGP, suggested that the bullets that had been removed from the victims’ bodies could have come only from the police’s rifles.

“If the shooters were criminals, they must have used country-made weapons. In that case, the bullets would have dissolved in the body and could not have been recovered,” he said.

“I heard some officers saying the people were killed in cross-fire between the protesters. Let me state clearly that I’m not buying this theory. It was clearly the police that used force with malicious and vindictive intentions.”

He added that during a baton-charge, the police are allowed to hit only below the knee.

“It’s a crime to inflict head injuries during a baton-charge. The policemen (responsible) should be charged under the harshest sections of the penal code,” he said.

“The police’s conduct during the protests has been an aberration. The officers who used force on the mobs should be brought to book.”

O.P. Singh said the police had served notices on some “rioters” to pay for the damage to public property.

“Otherwise, we will seek court permission to confiscate their properties to make up the losses,” he said, echoing a threat aired earlier by chief minister Yogi Adityanath.