Barely five days after the Yogi Adityanath government celebrated 100 days in power claiming that there is “fear among … criminals” in the state, a sub-inspector in Bijnor was murdered on Friday night. Unidentified assailants attacked SI Sahjor Singh Malik and slit his throat. His service revolver was also reported missing.

Malik was in-charge of Bijnor district’s Baliwala police chowki. The incident occurred when Malik was returning to his chowki in the evening. Villagers spotted Malik’s motorcycle lying near a glass factory in Gopalpur village. His body was found in a nearby paddy field.

According to Hindi daily Amar Ujala, the assailants had tracked Malik’s movement and it appears that the attack was planned. It has been theorised that the murder weapon could have been a sickle.

The police is suspecting the mining mafia behind the murder. The Bijnor police had launched a crackdown on the mafias active in the area.

District Magistrate Jagatram and Superintendent of Police Atul Sharma rushed to the spot at night itself.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is struggling to maintain law and order. Within 100 days of governance, the most populous state of India has already witnessed several incidents of violence – including the Saharanpur inter-caste clashes.