The police force of Yogi Adityanath, who claims to have made Uttar Pradesh crime-free, has been accused of systematically arresting innocent people — the charge coming not from Opposition parties or rights activists but from the top echelons of BJP-ruled Uttarakhand’s administration.

“Uttar Pradesh police frequently claim after arresting an innocent person that they have solved the case,” Radha Raturi, additional chief secretary (home), Uttarakhand, told a news conference in Dehradun on Monday afternoon.

“A criminal case should be solved honestly and without harassing innocent people. It’s very bad that the innocent are arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police. Ninety-nine criminals may be born if you punish one innocent person,” the IAS officer, flanked by Uttarakhand director-general of police Ashok Kumar and additional director-general Abhinav Kumar, said.

Raturi’s comments came after a police team from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh raided a farmhouse in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand on October 12 and shot dead the owner’s 28-year-old wife, Gurjit Kaur.

The Uttar Pradesh police claimed that a sand mafia member, Zafar Ali, was hiding in the farmhouse. Ali was, however, arrested in Moradabad itself on October 15. Udham Singh Nagar has been witnessing protests every day over Kaur’s murder.

The news conference was ostensibly called to discuss the law-and-order situation in general but the real motive appeared to be to assuage public anger by criticising Uttar Pradesh police.