In a major breakthrough, the Balrampur police arrested former Bahujan Samaj Party MP Rizwan Zaheer in connection with the sensational killing of a Samajwadi Party leader and former chairman of nagar panchayat of Tulsipur, Firoz Pappu, on Monday.
Along with mafia-turned- politician Zaheer, the police also arrested his daughter and son-in-law.
Pappu was murdered by unknown assailants in Tulsipur area of Balrampur while he returning home late on Tuesday night. An FIR was lodged in this connection by the victim’s widow and sitting chairperson of the nagar panchayat, Kahkashan, who suspected that political opponents eliminated her husband.
This is not the first time that Zaheer has been arrested. Earlier, the state government had invoked National Security Act (NSA) against Rizwan Zaheer after he was arrested for inciting violence and arson in Belikala village under Tulsipur police station after voting in the third phase of panchayat polls on April 26 last.
Zaheer's wife, Huma Rizwan, and Congress leader Dipankar Singh's wife Arunima Singh were contesting the election of district panchayat member from Navanagar area of Tulsipur block. After the voting, 11 people, including Rizwan Zaheer and Congress leader Dipankar Singh, were arrested and sent to jail in connection with the violence and arson between the supporters of the two leaders in Belikala village.
Meanwhile, a row over the construction of a makeshift road in Baghpat led to the killing of an Army personnel on Sunday afternoon.
As per reports, Ramkumar Yadav (40) alias Babloo was serving at the Army headquarters in Delhi and had come to his parents' house in Budhsaini village of Baghpat on leave. His family was locked in a dispute over building a makeshift road outside their house with their neighbour Surendra Sharma.
On Sunday morning, a panchayat was convened for discussing the contentious issue wherein peace was brokered between the two warring parties. Later, Sharma asked Ramkumar to accompany him home, where he was held captive and was shot dead.
A case was registered and a hunt was underway to track down the assailant.
