E-Paper
3 of a family shot dead over land dispute in Kaushambi
Eight people booked, two arrested; enraged kin of deceased, along with locals, torch two houses and vehicles belonging to the family of the accused, say police
PRAYAGRAJ Two persons were arrested for allegedly shooting dead three members of a family over a land dispute in Mohiuddinpur village of Uttar Pradesh’s Kaushambi in the wee hours of Friday. The incident took place around 2am when the trio was sleeping in their house. Shivsagar, 26, his wife Brijkali, 22, and his father-in-law Horilal, 62, who were Dalits and belonged to the Pasi community, died in the incident, the police said.
Enraged kin of the deceased, along with a few locals, torched two houses and vehicles belonging to the family of the accused. They also attacked police and administrative staff who reached the spot, resulting in injuries to some of them.
Based on a complaint by Horilal’s son Subhash Kumar, a case was registered against eight people -- Guddu Yadav, Arvind Singh, Amit Singh, Suresh, Anuj Singh, Rajendra Singh, Ajit Singh and Amar Singh -- all residents of Kaushambi, said SP (Kaushambi) Brajesh Kumar Srivastava.
Two of the arrested persons were identified as Amar Singh and Amit Singh while efforts were on to nab the others, he said.
The accused were booked under Sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code, Criminal Law Amendment Act and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, added the officer.
ADG (zone) Bhanu Bhaskar, IG Chandra Prakash and divisional commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant later reached the village and pacified the villagers. They assured of them of strict action against those involved in the murders.
SP (Kaushambi) Brajesh Kumar Srivastava said police received information about the triple murders around 6am, after which a team of cops reached the spot to take control of the situation. The fire had been doused, and the situation was now under control, he added.
Police force was deployed in the area, and primary investigations indicated that the triple murder was a result of a property dispute between the two families, he said.
Horilal’s son Subhash Kumar informed cops that his father owned a piece of land at Panda crossing in the area but one Dashrath and some others were claiming the property. Horilal constructed a shanty on the disputed land and was living there with his daughter and son-in-law, who used to run a Jan Sewa Kendra nearby, said police.
Late on Thursday night, there was an altercation between Horilal and the others over the issue. In the wee hours of Friday, Horilal, his pregnant daughter and son-in-law were shot dead by the rival group. Kin of Horilal also fired shots in retaliation, resulting in injuries to some people of the other group, said police.
Villagers informed that after the alleged murder, the relatives of Horilal and a few locals torched the houses of the accused. The kin of the accused somehow managed to flee their homes.
Divisional commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant said instructions had been issued to probe the land dispute and action will be taken if negligence of revenue staff was found, he added.