Prayagraj: 6 murders reported in a day, SSP suspended

Of the six murders that took place Sunday, three occurred in Dhoomanganj police station area, while a married couple was killed in Tharwai police station area and a youth was killed in George Town police station area.

In Dhoomanganj police station area, three persons were killed in a row over construction in a narrow lane in Rajrooppur area.

SHO of Dhoomanganj police station Vijay Kumar Singh said, “The accused, Balwant Singh (65) and his family members wanted to get some construction done in the lane that would have led to passage of people from the lane getting blocked. The victims, Lalu Yadav (35) and Ajit Sonkar, who were neighbours of Balwant, had been opposing this. Around 8 pm Sunday, they got into a confrontation with Balwant and his son Sonal opened fire with Balwant’s licensed revolver. Ajit And Lalu were killed in the firing and a child, identified as Karan (15) also died. We have recovered six cartridges from the site and have arrested Balwant Singh, his three daughters-in-law, his wife and Manish Shukla, who is a friend of Sonal and was on the side of Balwant and his son Sonal,” said the SHO.
Additional SP (City) Brijesh Kumar Srivastava told The Indian Express that eight of the 10 people from Balwant’s family were arrested. “Three daughters-in-law have been arrested. They indulged in stone-pelting and encouraged the confrontation. Three sons, including Sonal have been arrested,” said Srivastava.

A case was registered against 10 people under IPC sections 302 (murder), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) and 307 (attempt to murder). “Some people have also suffered injuries in the stone-pelting and assault with an axe. The injured persons are undergoing treatment,” said Srivastava.

Two police officers were suspended after the firing incident under Dhoomanganj police station area. Senior Sub-inspector Tej Bahadur Singh and in-charge of Rajrooppur outpost under the Dhoomanganj police station Shravan Nigam were suspended after the incident.

In Tharwai police station area, a married couple was murdered in the district’s Hasanpur area. Station Officer, Tharwai, Kuldeep Kumar Tewari, said they were killed with a sharp-edged weapon when they were asleep at home in the early hours of Monday morning. “We don’t know the reason for the murder yet. We have named one person – Raj Kumar – in the FIR based on the family members complaint who have said an old enmity with Kumar could be the reason for the murder. Kumar is absconding,” said Tewari. A case was registered under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation) at the Tharwai police station.

Under George Town police station, in Allapur area in Prayagraj, an alleged criminal, identified as Sachin Sonkar, was killed over an argument with his associates.

Circle Officer, Ratnesh Singh, told The Indian Express that Sonkar was killed over an argument between some alleged criminals.

“Sonkar has nine cases against him and was killed around 10 pm Sunday by his associates. Five people have been named in the FIR. All of them have a criminal background and used to work with Sonkar. All accused are absconding. Sonkar was shot with four bullets as per the post-mortem report. After killing him, the five accused hid his body in a graveyard in the area where it was found by local residents on Monday morning after which we were informed about the incident,” said Singh.

A case was registered at the George Town police station on murder and rioting charges.