Man attacks 5 members of in-laws’ family with sickle, beaten to death

A man allegedly attacked five members of his in-laws’ family with a sickle in Bheekampur village in Aung area of Fatehpur district around 2am on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday

A man allegedly attacked five members of his in-laws’ family with a sickle in Bheekampur village in Aung area of Fatehpur district around 2am on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday. Three of his nephews, his younger brother-in-law and the latter’s wife were seriously injured.

Villagers who gathered after hearing the screams caught the alleged attacker, Pawan Kumar, and beat him to death.

The incident stemmed from a family dispute and police were also searching for Pawan’s elder brother-in-law, 55-year-old Raju, whom he had allegedly taken away from the village a few hours earlier. Police and villagers searched a pond, fields and nearby forest areas amid suspicion that Raju might have been killed.

Police said a preliminary inquiry indicated that Pawan was angry because his wife had started living with Raju’s son-in-law. She had begun staying at her parental home around nine years ago following frequent disputes with Pawan and later moved to Gujarat with a relative.

Reportedly, Pawan, a resident of Ashapur village, had gone to his in-laws’ house in Bheekampur on Wednesday evening. According to police, he took Raju with him on the pretext of showing him a girl for his son’s marriage, but returned alone around 9pm.

When Raju’s sons asked about their father, Pawan allegedly told them that Raju was in the village and that they would all go to see the girl the next morning. He then had dinner with the family and went to sleep.

Around 2am, Pawan allegedly picked up a sickle and attacked Raju’s sons Gore, 20, Pradeep,23, and Rajkaran, 25. Their screams woke up Rajesh, 40, (Raju’s younger brother), and his wife Buddhi, 37. Pawan allegedly attacked them too.

Hearing the commotion, villagers gathered and overpowered Pawan. They allegedly thrashed him along with members of the family leading to his death due to injuries.

The five injured people were taken to the medical college, from where they were referred to Kanpur. Medical college principal Dr Rajesh Maurya said the four injured people admitted had deep wounds and were in critical condition.

SP Abhimanyu Manglik visited the spot and took stock of the situation. He said the injured were being treated and police were searching for Raju. Pawan’s body was sent for postmortem examination and legal proceedings were being initiated.