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Five of a family found murdered in UP’s Prayagraj
The unidentified assailants also tried to set the house on fire before fleeing the spot, said Prayagraj SSP Ajay Kumar
Five members of a family, including a one-year-old girl, were found murdered in Khevrajpur village under Tharwai police station in trans-Ganga area of Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj district early on Saturday morning, police said. Another family member was found alive with no injury, they added.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Prayagraj, Ajay Kumar said initially four family members were found dead while a 50-year-old woman was found critically injured. However, she was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was declared brought dead, he added.
The unidentified assailants also tried to set the house on fire before fleeing the spot, he said. Primary investigation suggested that the family members had been assaulted with blunt objects like rods, the police said. “All angles, including loot and enmity as the motive behind the killings, are under scanner,” police officials said.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath expressed condolences to bereaved family and issued instructions to provide proper treatment to those injured in the incident. The chief minister also directed the district magistrate and senior police officers to reach the spot and investigate the incident impartially and take strict action against the culprits, UP CM office informed in a tweet.
SSP Ajay Kumar said deceased were identified as Rajkumar Yadav, 55, his wife Kusum, 50, their daughter Manisha, 22, daughter-in-law Savita, 25, and Rajkumar’s granddaughter Sakshi, 1. Meenakshi, another 5-year-old granddaughter of Rajkumar, was found alive and was being taken care of by a police team, he added. The SSP said.
The assailants had set one of the rooms of the house on fire which was later doused. The bodies had been sent for a post-mortem examination to determine the exact cause of their death and if either of the two women were sexually assaulted, he said. “An FIR has been registered against unidentified assailants under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code on the complaint of Rajkumar’s son Sunil,” the SSP added.
Sunil, who runs a tea stall near Prayag railway station and was not at home at the time of the incident, in his police complaint alleged that the bodies of his sister and wife were found without clothes. “I have no enmity with anyone in the village,” he said in the complaint submitted to the police.
The SSP said further action will be taken on the basis of the findings of the post mortem report and the evidence gathered from the spot. “Seven teams have been formed to work out the case at the earliest and the guilty will not be spared,” SSP Kumar said. “The post-mortem examination would be carried out by a panel of doctors that would include a woman doctor. The entire process would also be videographed,” he said.
District magistrate of Prayagraj Sanjay Khatri also reached the spot and assured people of a fair and speedy investigation into the incident.
Earlier, on April 16, five members of a family, including a middle-aged couple and their three minor daughters, were also found dead in Khagalpur village of Nawabganj police station in trans-Ganga area of the district.
The woman and the three girls were found dead with their throats slashed with a sharp-edged weapon while the body of the man was found hanging in the courtyard of the house. All 11 accused named in the FIR lodged by the elder brother of the deceased man have now been arrested and sent to jail in connection with the April 16 incident.
No evidence of any sexual assault was found in the post-mortem examination conducted on the bodies of the five members of the family who were found dead in their home on Saturday morning, said SSP, Prayagraj, Ajay Kumar late on Saturday evening. The deceased included two women and a one-year-old girl.
The post-mortem examination established “haemorrhagic shock and coma due to antemortem head injury” as the cause of death of all five victims, he added. “However vaginal slides and swabs have been collected and would be sent to forensic science lab for testing,” Kumar said.
Moreover, vital clues had been found by the police and a dozen suspects had been detained and were being questioned in connection with the incident, he said. “Soon this case would be worked out and culprits would be arrested,” the SSP added.
The incident evoked criticism from top opposition leaders of Uttar Pradesh. Reacting to the killings, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav referred to the incident it in a tweet as “today crime roll” and alleged that “”Under the BJP 2.0 reign, UP is immersed in crime”.
Similarly, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati also tweeted: “The news of the brutal murder of five members of the same family in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, is very sad, condemnable and worrying. The government should go to the bottom of the incident and ensure strict legal action against the culprits.”
Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) leader Shivpal Yadav in his tweet said: “Once again the sad news of the murders of five members of the same family in Prayagraj has shaken the entire state. My deep condolences for the dead. Heartfelt tribute...” The leader in another tweet urged CM Yogi Adityanath to ensure “a time bound investigation by an independent agency and strict action against the culprits.”
Rajya Sabha MP of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Sanjay Singh in his tweet said, “The series of murders continues in Prayagraj with the second incident within a week where in an entire family has been wiped out. With the killing of 5 people of the same family, the people of the district are in panic. Adityanath administration failure.”
