E-Paper
Three arrested in farmer’s abduction-murder case after police encounter in Prayagraj
Lalmani Patel of Ismailganj Tikri village was abducted while he was returning home from a wedding. His body was found buried in the sand at Nagarwar Ghat in the Lalapur area of trans-Yamuna on April 29.
Three accused in the abduction and murder of a farmer were arrested following an encounter with the trans-Ganga police in the wee hours of Saturday. Two of the accused opened fire on the cops and sustained bullet injuries in their legs when the police team fired in retaliation. The injured accused have been admitted to the hospital, police officials said.
DCP trans-Ganga Abhishek Bharti said joint police teams of Tharwai and SOG tried to intercept a car during a routine checking drive at Malak Pulia in the wee hours. However, the people in the car started firing on the police team and attempted to escape. Three people alighted from the car and again fired shots at the cops. In retaliatory firing, two miscreants received bullet injuries and were apprehended with country-made firearms. The third person, identified as Vikas Pasi, was also arrested following a chase.
Those injured were identified as Dilip Patel and Ajay Patel, both 28 years old, also known as Saxena, from Ismailganj Tikri village. The injured were admitted to SRN Hospital while Vikas was questioned by the police team. He informed the police that they were involved in the abduction and murder of farmer Lalmani Patel on the night of April 26.
It is worth mentioning that Lalmani Patel of Ismailganj Tikri village was abducted while he was returning home from a wedding. His body was found buried in the sand at Nagarwar Ghat in the Lalapur area of trans-Yamuna on April 29. The postmortem report revealed that Lalmani was shot in the head. An FIR was lodged against Ajay Patel, Dilip Patel, and some unidentified persons on the complaint of Lalmani’s wife, Rekha. Police later arrested one Anil Patel, Lalji Patel, former Zila Panchayat member Kamlesh Patel, and the prime conspirator Vijay Bahadur Patel, while Ajay, Dilip, and Vikas were on the run.
Police investigation revealed that Vijay Bahadur was involved in a property-related dispute with Lalmani. Ajay Patel and Dilip also had a scuffle with Lalmani during Holi. They conspired to murder Lalmani and abducted him. After shooting Lalmani dead, they buried his body in the sand in the Lalapur area.
