Protests after Sonbhadra SOG team mistakenly detains innocent youth in Sultanpur

Lucknow: Sonbhadra Police's Special Operations Group (SOG) unit mistakenly detained an innocent youth while searching for an accused in the theft of a mobile tower battery at Payagipur crossing in Sultanpur on Sunday night. The incident led to a massive public protest.
According to eyewitnesses, around 8.45 pm, a four-member SOG team from Sonbhadra, operating in plain clothes, approached Chandan Maurya, a resident of Ramsapur in the Karaudi Kala area, who was standing near a chaat stall at the busy crossing. The team allegedly tried to take him aside for questioning. When Chandan resisted, claiming innocence, the policemen forcibly grabbed him and attempted to push him into their vehicle. As the team allegedly used force, a policeman was accused of pressing his foot on the youth's chest while others tried to drag him into the vehicle—local shopkeepers and passers-by intervened. Within minutes, a large crowd gathered, surrounded the SOG vehicle, and confronted the policemen. The situation escalated into heated arguments, pushing and shoving, and traffic came to a standstill at the crossing. Seeing the situation spiral out of control, the SOG team informed Kotwali Nagar police. Inspector-in-Charge Sandeep Rai reached the spot with additional force and managed to calm the crowd. Both the youth and the SOG team were then taken to Kotwali Nagar police station for verification. During scrutiny at the police station, it emerged that the SOG team committed a critical error in matching the suspect's location and photograph. The youth detained was innocent and had no connection with the murder case being investigated by the Sonbhadra police. After confirming the mistake, the SOG team formally apologised to Chandan Maurya and his family. Inspector Sandeep Rai stated that the confusion arose due to faulty location tracking and incorrect photo matching. "Once the documents and identity were verified, the entire situation became clear and the matter was resolved through dialogue," he said. The incident sparked strong criticism from locals, who questioned why an outstation police team acted without uniform, without prior coordination with the local police, and without proper identity verification. Residents said that, had the crowd not intervened, an innocent person could have been falsely implicated in a serious criminal case. SP Sonabhadra, Abhishek Verma said no physical force was used on the wrong person.