Double murder of minor brothers leads to communal tension in UP's Budaun
LUCKNOW: Badaun, a district of western Uttar Pradesh, was on the brink of communal tensions after two minor boys --- Ayush (13) and Ayaan aka Honey (6), were murdered gruesomely by a local barber Sajid (30), at their home on Tuesday night, said the police.
As per the police sources, about two hours after the incident, Sajid, the accused, was gunned down in an encounter with the cops.
According to UP Director General of Police (DGP) Prashant Kumar, Sajid was shot dead when he opened fire on the police as he fled following the horrifying act.
According to Inspector General, Bareilly Range, Rakesh Singh and SSP, Badaun, Alok Priyadarshi, the motive behind the incident was yet to be ascertained, however, an FIR was registered against two persons -- Sajid and his brother Javed -- based on a complaint filed by Vinod Singh Thakur, the father of the deceased boys at the Civil Lines Police station.
Both Sajid and Javed were booked under Sections 452 (House-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault, or wrongful restraint), 302 (murder), and 307 (attempt to murder) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
While the Special Operation Group (SOG) of UP police has launched a hunt for Javed, the father and uncle of the accused were picked up by the cops for interrogation.
Meanwhile, Sajid’s mother Nazeer claimed that she had no regret over her son’s encounter as he had taken two innocent lives ruthlessly.
As per the post-mortem examination report, while Sajid had inflicted five wounds with a sharp-edged weapon on the chest and hand of Ayush, 13, he killed Ayyan by slitting his throat.
According to Badaun SSP Alok Priyadarshi, Sajid’s shop is located near the boys’ home in Baba Colony, Civil Line police station area, in Badaun.
The victims’s father is a contractor, while their mother, Sangeeta, runs a beauty parlour from the ground floor of their house.
As per the complaint, Sajid went to the house of Vinod Singh Thakur, a contractor by profession, at 7.45 pm on Tuesday.
The incident occurred when their father was away while their mother was at the parlour.
All the three boys were at home with their paternal grandmother, police said.
According to police, Sajid, who often used to buy some goods for the salon from Sangeeta, asked her for some clips and asked to lend him Rs 5,000 for the treatment of his pregnant wife.
Sangeeta is said to have given the amount after consulting her husband and when she had gone inside the house to make tea, the accused had went to the third floor and had asked one of the boys to bring him water.
As Piyush left to take water, Sajid attacked Ayush and Ayaan with a sharp-edged weapon, slitting their throats, police said.
Piyush upon returning with water was attacked by Sajid but had managed to escape with minor injuries. He screamed and alerted the family. As the family raised an alarm, Sajid fled the house shouting that he had completed his task.
At about 10 pm, Sajid was gunned down in the Shekhupur area, about 7 km from the victims’ house.
However, following the boys’ killing, mob vandalised Sajid’s shop and set it ablaze.
Two other makeshift shops were also set on fire by the angry protestors. Additional police personnel were deployed, and the situation was brought under control, said the police officers.
The police dismissed reports linking the killings to occult. As per SSP Badaun, social media is being monitored to prevent such rumours.
Thakur denied any dispute with the barber whose shop the children used to frequent for haircut.
"I had no dispute with him. I was away from home for work when he came to the house. One of my sons was able to escape him and warn his mother," said the father of the victims while talking to reporters.
Meanwhile, the main opposition party leader Akhilesh Yadav mocked at the UP government’s claim of zero tolerance towards crime.