In a sensational murder, a 72-year-old man was gruesomely killed with an axe following a heated argument, police reported on Sunday.

The shocking incident occurred in Naughira village under Manjhanpur police station of Kaushambi, sending ripples of horror through the local community.

According to Station House Officer Sanjay Tripathi, the victim, identified as Budhai from Kodar village, had visited the home of Shyam Lal to procure medicine for his grandson. While there, he engaged in a confrontation with Prem Lal, a local resident who was chopping wood nearby with an axe. In a sudden outburst of anger, Prem attacked Budhai, inflicting severe injuries. Villagers rushed the elderly man to a nearby hospital, but doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

The police have sent Budhai’s body for autopsy and registered a case against Prem based on a complaint from the victim’s family. The accused fled the scene, and authorities have launched a manhunt to apprehend him.

The motive behind the altercation remains under investigation.

Meanwhile, in a shocking incident in Nagra area of Ballia, the body of a young girl was found hanging from a tree in Saryan Gulabrai village on Sunday morning.

When the local villagers saw the body, they immediately informed the police. The cops reached the spot and carried out an investigation.

The girl’s hands were tied from behind and she was hanging at a height of about six feet from the ground which pointed that someone killed her and later hanged the body to make it look like a suicide case.

The police sent the body  for post-mortem. At the time of the incident, the girl’s parents had came to the Sanjay Gandhi Post-graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow for treatment, and she was alone at home.

Other houses around her house are located at a distance of 40-50 metres. The girl’s other family members also live outside – one brother lives in Gujarat and one sister, who is married, lives in Assam.

According to the villagers, the girl was to get married in April.

The police are investigating the case from all angles, including a love affair and land dispute, to get to the bottom of the matter. Local villagers say that the full picture of the incident is not clear at the moment, but the truth will come to light when the post-mortem report comes.

Superintendent of Police Omveer Singh said that special investigation teams had been formed to work out the case. He termed the incident as suspicious and assured that the culprits would be traced soon.

The police have done video photography during the post-mortem, so that all the evidence can be collected.