The father of a young man who died in violence that broke out in Bijnore over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act has alleged that police shot the 21-year-old although he had nothing to do with protests against the controversial law.

Mohammad Anas, his father said, was returning home on December 20 after buying milk for his infant son when the police in the Uttar Pradesh district stopped him.

“The policemen who had dragged Mohammad Sulaiman to a corner and shot him dead also killed Anas minutes later,” Anas’s father Arshad Hussain told reporters on Monday. “There are many eyewitnesses who have confirmed this to us.”

The police had on Saturday registered an FIR against six policemen in Bijnore on the charge of killing Sulaiman, 20, on the basis of a complaint from the victim’s brother.

Arshad said the same policemen were guilty of shooting his son dead and wanted them to be “booked for a second murder”.

“My son worked as a labourer in New Delhi and had come home two days ago (on December 18). He was returning after buying milk for his eight-month-old son, Adeeb, when the policemen stopped him near Agency Crossing. They took Anas near Ghasmandi and shot him dead,” Arshad said.

Sulaiman too had been stopped near the road crossing and dragged away by policemen towards Ghasmandi, about 50 metres away.

“I submitted a written complaint with the police on the basis of the post-mortem report that my son was killed by a bullet, which was found in his chest. Since the police were freely firing on people that day and many eyewitnesses have agreed to give statements against the killers in court, I want the same policemen to be booked for a second murder,” said Arshad, a resident of Mirdgan, about half a kilometre from Mangu Charkhi where Sulaiman’s father lives.

Both the localities fall under Nahtaur police station.

Vishwajeet Shrivastava, superintendent of police, rural, said the police had received Arshad’s complaint and were reviewing it.

“It will be investigated. However, there is video footage in which we can see Anas attacking the policemen,” the officer told reporters.

The six policemen booked on the charge of killing Sulaiman are Rajesh Solanki, the officer in charge of Nahtaur police station; Ashish Tomar, a sub-inspector, and four constables, including the alleged shooter Mohit Kumar.

SP Shrivastava has accepted that Mohit shot Sulaiman with his service rifle but claimed it was an act of self-defence.

In Kanpur, about 350km away from Bijnore, the authorities on Monday shifted over 100 policemen who were posted in the city’s violence-torn areas.

Senior police officers accepted off the record that the cops didn’t deal “properly” with the situation and “further inquiry against them might be affected if they remained in those areas”.

Those who have been shifted include Veer Singh, inspector, Bekanganj area, to the crime branch, and Amit Singh Tomar, inspector, Babupurva area, to Fazalganj.

Manoj Kumar Gupta, circle officer, Babupurva, has been transferred to Govindnagar.

“Three persons died in police firing in the Babupurva area on December 20. A magisterial inquiry is going on there to find out who ordered the police firing and in what situation,” an officer in Lucknow said but asked not to be named.