LUCKNOW: Three members of a family were shot dead, apparently by their neighbours, over a land dispute in Mohiuddinpur village on Thursday night. The deceased have been identified as Horilal (62), his daughter Brijkali (22) and her husband Shivsagar (26). They are Dalits and belonged to the Pasi community.
The three persons were asleep outside their hut when they were shot dead. The three bodies have been sent for autopsy.
Soon after the triple murder, the infuriated kin of the victims, accompanied by a few villagers, set two houses belonging to the family of suspects on fire.
The relatives of the victims informed the police that Horilal owned a piece of land at Panda Crossing in the village located in Kaushambi district. However, some others also claimed right over the property.
Horilal had constructed a shanty on the disputed land and was living there with his daughter and son-in-law, who used to run a Jan Sewa Kendra nearby.
According to local sources, after the triple murder, the relatives of Horilal and a few villagers torched the houses of the accused. The villagers also pelted stones, during which Pushpendra Gautam, the tehsildar of Chail, received head injuries.
As per preliminary inquiry, the disputed land was recently measured to arrive at a solution and the district police were in the process of filing a case in the matter.
Kaushambi happens to be the native district and electoral constituency of UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya.
According to Kaushambi Superintendent of Police (SP) Brajesh Kumar Srivastava, the police got the information about the incident at around 6 am on Friday, and a team reached the spot to take control of the situation.
The fire was doused, and the situation was now under control, he said.
He added that a heavy contingent of police force and Provincial Armed Constabulary personnel was deployed in the area, and that the primary investigations indicated a property dispute between the two families as the primary reason for the triple murders.
Based on a complaint by Horilal's son Subhash Kumar, a case has been registered against eight persons -- Guddu Yadav, Arvind Singh, Amit Singh, Suresh, Anuj Singh, Rajendra Singh, Ajit Singh and Amar Singh -- all residents of Kaushambi district, the SP said.
The accused have been booked under Sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code, Criminal Law Amendment Act and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, he added.
Two persons have been arrested and eight teams have been formed to nab the remaining six accused, the SP said.
(With online desk inputs)