SP ‘fact-finding’ team seeks CBI probe into Deoria violence

Section 144 imposed in the Fatehpur gram sabha area of Rudrapur with immediate effect for one month after a scuffle between SP workers and police personnel on Monday

GORAKHPUR Samajwadi Party leaders on Tuesday demanded a CBI inquiry into the violence in Fatehpur village of UP’s Deoria district where six people were killed over a land dispute on October 2. They also sought FIR against officials suspended by the UP government in wake of the incident besides ₹1 crore ex gratia, along with security, for the families of the deceased.

Police personnel investigate after six people including five of a family were killed over a property dispute, in Deoria district on Oct 2. (PTI Photo)

Heavy security force was deployed when a fact-finding delegation of SP leaders comprising former cabinet ministers Brahma Shankar Tripathi, Radhe Shyam Singh, Ghazala Lari and former MP Kanak Lata Singh and others reached the village on Tuesday. They were stopped for half an hour at Bairiya crossing, 6 km before Fatehpur village as the border of the village was sealed.

Violence had erupted on October 2 after the brutal murder of a former zila panchayat member Prem Chand Yadav, 50, by one Satya Prakash Dubey. In retaliation, the Yadavs killed five members of Dubey’s family. The mob vandalised some vehicles and set ablaze cattle sheds. The incident took place after a heated verbal exchange between Dubey and Yadav over a long pending dispute of agricultural land.

On Monday, Section 144 was imposed in the Fatehpur gram sabha area of Rudrapur with immediate effect for one month after a scuffle between SP workers and police personnel when the tehsildar organised a court in the village and revenue officials were conducting demarcation of land to confirm the land encroached by Yadav.

SP workers alleged that the revenue department was not following the legal way prescribed for the measurement.

Chief revenue officer Rajnish Rai confirmed that some portion of Yadav’s house and his cow sheds were built on land belonging to gram panchayat. Hence officials had marked the encroached portion. The police also lodged cases against 100 unidentified people for violating Section 144 on Monday evening.

SP leaders sat on dharna for half an hour and were later allowed to go to the village to meet the surviving members of both families.

Speaking to mediapersons, former minister Brahma Shankar raised questions over the timing of the demarcation and suggested that district authorities avoid hasty action as it could disturb social harmony.

He also accused the BJP of persuading “caste politics for vested interests” and creating a divide between two Hindu communities.

The SP leader said the party delegation would meet chief minister Yogi Adityanath and submit its report to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.