Ex-block pramukh, 2 family members killed in Badaun

Badaun senior superintendent of police (SSP) OP Singh said the two key accused Ravindra Dixit and his son Sarthak Dixit had been arrested and three firearms allegedly used in the crime recovered. He said efforts were on for the arrest of two other named accused.

Lucknow Unidentified assailants shot dead local Samajwadi Party leader and former block pramukh Rakesh Gupta, his wife and mother after barging into a house in their native Sathra village under Usait police station limits of Badaun district on Monday night. Police said the former block pramukh’s brother Rakesh Gupta had accused Ravindra Dixit, a block development council (BDC) member, his two sons, a driver and two unidentified persons for the killings due to old rivalry between the two families.

Heavy force has been deployed in the village to avert any further clash. (Pic for representation)

Heavy force has been deployed in the village to avert any further clash.

Badaun senior superintendent of police (SSP) OP Singh said the two key accused Ravindra Dixit and his son Sarthak Dixit had been arrested and three firearms allegedly used in the crime recovered. He said efforts were on for the arrest of two other named accused, Ravindra Dixit’s second son Archit and his driver Vikram alias Vicky and two other unidentified assailants.

A local police official informed that the incident was reported on Saturday night when Rakesh Gupta (52), his wife Sharda Gupta (52) and his mother Shanti Devi (72) were found dead in three separate rooms inside their house when his brother Rakesh Gupta reached there. He said preliminary investigation suggested that the unidentified assailants barged into the house and fled after shooting dead all three people present in the house. He said police teams were trying to retrieve footages of CCTV cameras installed in the vicinity and get some clue about the assailants.

He said Rakesh Gupta blamed the Dixits for the killings as the two families had enmity and some murders had taken place in the last two decades. He said Rakesh Gupta’s elder brother Naresh Gupta was killed in 2007 and the blame was put on Dixit family and thereafter their father Ram Krishna was killed some years later.

In the same rivalry, one Karan alias Satyabhan, alleged aide of Dixit family, was killed in May 2017, for which the Gupta family was accused. Karan was accused in the murder of Naresh Gupta.