E-Paper
Admin’s new theory: “Malihabad trio killed for supporting assailants’ rivals”
Three people were killed in a village in Malihabad, India, due to personal enmity and suspicion about the victims' alleged support to the attackers' rivals. The killings were not related to a land dispute. The assailants believed the victims were conspiring against them with their opponents. A video of the incident went viral on social media. The police have registered a case and made one arrest. Efforts are underway to apprehend the remaining suspects.
The killing of three people in a Malihabad village here on Friday was the result of personal enmity arising from suspicion about the victims’ alleged support to another set of the attackers’ rivals, a senior district administration official said, coining a new theory on Saturday and citing the report that the Malihabad sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) has submitted to Lucknow district magistrate SP Gangwar.
There was no direct land dispute between the assailants and the victims, this official added.
The assailants suspected the victims were hatching a conspiracy against them with the support of these other opponents, the official added on the basis of the same report.
On Friday, Muneer Ahmad Khan alias Taj (55), his nephew Hanzala Khan (15) and Hanzal’s mother Farheen Khan (40), all residents of Mohammed Nagar in Malihabad, were shot dead in indiscriminate firing by a group of men. Farheen was the wife of Muneer’s younger brother Fareed Khan.
The 50-second video of the incident also went viral on social media right after the incident. The clip purportedly shows a 70-year-old history sheeter Siraj Ahmad Khan alias Lallan Khan and his son Faraz Khan targeting the victims with a licensed rifle.
The SDM’s report stated that there was no direct land dispute between the group led by Lallan Khan and the families of Muneer and Fareed, the official said.
In fact, Lallan Khan suspected that the families of Muneer and Fareed supported one Tayyab Khan and this led to the killings, according to the report.
The SDM mentioned in the report that Tayyab Khan’s land partition application against Roshan Jahan and others, including the assailants’ group, was filed in the court of the SDM Malihabad on June 5, 2014.
The appeal in the case was pending in the court of the additional commissioner. An order was issued by the court concerned to maintain status quo on October 23, 2018, which was been followed since then.
In the meantime, Tayyab Khan approached the court of the SDM Malihabad for partition of the private land at Meethe Nagar village on January 24 this year. Thereafter, the lekhpal issued notices to both the parties concerned on January 28, calling them for partition. When the lekhpal reached the site for a physical examination, he came to know about the additional commissioner’s order for status quo. The lekhpal then cancelled the process in compliance with the status quo order.
After the Friday’s killings, the Lucknow police registered a first information report (FIR) under the Indian Penal Code section 302 for murder and section 442 for criminal house trespass against Lallan Khan, his sons Faraz, Furqan and their driver Asharfi. The driver has been arrested while efforts are on to nab the remaining accused. Five police teams have been constituted to track them down.
The police also recovered .315 bore licensed rifle used in the attack and a jeep of the assailants.
