The twin villages of Bhidausa and Lepa, deep in the ravines of Chambal in Morena district, are no strangers to violence. It was in Bhidausa that in the late seventies, former army man and athlete Paan Singh Tomar was embroiled in a bloody feud that led him on a path to becoming one of India’s most well-known dacoits, running a gang of his own before he was killed in an encounter in 1981. More than four decades later, sounds of gunfire rent the air in Chambal again, after six residents of a family were killed and two were grievously injured in broad daylight in Lepa village on Friday, born out of killings that have their roots in 2013, and a dispute over land.
Read here: Six of family, including three women, shot dead over past enmity in MP's Morena
Senior police officials said that in 2013 the families of Dheer Singh Tomar and Ranjeet Tomar quarrelled over a 400 square foot piece of land. “Dheer Singh was using the land to dispose off garbage and cow dung. Ranjeet and his cousin Gajendra Singh Tomar had objected at that point because they claimed that their grandfather had donated the land as an extension for the local school. The dispute escalated, and Ranjeet Singh and three others allegedly killed two members of Dheer Singh’s family,” said Morena inspector general of police Sushant Saxena.
All four accused in the case were arrested and in the interim were given bail. But tension continued, and the families of Ranjeet and Gajendra Tomar moved to Ahmedabad in 2014. Kusuma Singh, the wife of Gajendra Singh said the family returned on Friday morning, after an “out of court settlement.” “We had left out of fear and it is not true that we were responsible for the 2013 killings. But we reached an out of court settlement, paid ₹10 lakh and handed over our house to Dheer Singh,” Kusuma said.
{{/usCountry}}All four accused in the case were arrested and in the interim were given bail. But tension continued, and the families of Ranjeet and Gajendra Tomar moved to Ahmedabad in 2014. Kusuma Singh, the wife of Gajendra Singh said the family returned on Friday morning, after an “out of court settlement.” “We had left out of fear and it is not true that we were responsible for the 2013 killings. But we reached an out of court settlement, paid ₹10 lakh and handed over our house to Dheer Singh,” Kusuma said.
{{/usCountry}}But minutes after the family arrived in the village, with the dramatic version of events caught on video by Gajendra Singh’s minor daughter, the family was attacked by sticks and stones in broad daylight, before shots from rifles rent the air. Within minutes, six people-identified as Gajendra Singh Tomar, his sons Satyaprakash and Sanju, his daughters-in-law Lesh Kumari, Babli and Madhu- were dead. Two others from the family, Virendra and Vinod Singh are in critical condition in a Morena hospital.
Kusuma Singh said that they had just emerged out of their vehicle on Friday morning when they were set upon by Dheer Singh’s family. “Dheer Singh and his son Bhupendra started attacking us with canes. Bhupendra and one other person then shot at us with their rifles. The women of their family were handing them cartridges. I have lost three daughters-in-law, two sons and my husband. Another son and a nephew are battling for their lives in hospital,” Kusuma Singh said.
She also alleged that the village patwari and another member of her family had reached the Sihonia police station, but personnel present did not respond for over an hour. A video ostensibly from the police station shows them being waved away for the lack of personnel at the police station. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the video. “There was nobody to listen to our pleas. The police reached two hours after the incident,” she said.
Inspector General Saxena however contested these claims. “The police did reach on time but we will hold an inquiry based on these allegations.”
Read here: Madhya Pradesh government to pay fees of girl students under Ladli Laxmi Scheme
Morena additional superintendent of police Rai Singh Narwariya said most members of Dheer Singh’s family have fled the village after the attack. “Two accused including a woman have been arrested under Sections 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. As many six teams have been pressed into service to arrest those on the run.”
(With inputs from Shiv Pratap Singh and Mahesh Shivhare from Morena)