Armed miscreants shot dead four road construction workers in Rath area of Hamirpur district of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday creating sensation in the area and throwing an open challenge before the police which is grappling hard to put a tab on deteriorating law and order and crime graph. The incident exposed police shabby approach towards dealing with the complaints as a complaint was given to the police two days back and police help was sought.
As per reports, construction of concrete road is undergoing in Akauna village of Rath. The miscreants were opposed the construction work since beginning and were exerting pressure on the contractor to stall work. They also were at logger head with women village pradhan Julekha who chose to continue the construction work while ignoring the threatening given by the miscreants. The miscreants had forcibly got the work stalled two days back and Julekha had complained to the police about the same.
On Sunday morning when the work was going on, the miscreants reached the scene on different vehicles and they forced the workers to stop working. One of the workers opposed their diktat following which the prime accused Karan Singh opened fire by his rifle and killed him instantly on the spot. They also aimed at pradhan’s husband Mahboob to kill him but he managed to save his life fleeing the scene.
After the prime accused opened the fire, their aides opened fusillade of fire on the innocent workers killing two other of them.
In the attack, four workers identified as Ahirwar (38), Munna lodhi (45) and Dhaniram (55) died on the spot in the firing while Parmeshwari lal (35) sustained serious injuries in the attack and died on the way to hospital.
Police said the accused had been identified as Karan Singh, Mahendra, Harcharan, Jitendra and were native of same village. The police said some unidentified persons were also accompanying the assailants when they opened firing at the group of innocent workers. A case has been registered in this connection and the police are searching
criminals.
The incident evoked a strong protest from the villager and the police had a tough time to control the situation. The villagers alleged that the miscreants had good rapport with the local policemen of the area and the police did not intervene despite the gram pradhan lodged a complaint in this regard. Heavy police had been sent to the place to control the situation.
It surfaced that the trigger happy miscreants were bullying the gram pradhan and the contactor assigned the work for last several days. Two days back, they had forcibly stopped the work bullying the workers and contractor and Julekha had complained about the same to the police. “I had informed the police on phone about the incident and also to the SP Hamirpur. The police had assured me of proper action and said keep a tab on the miscreants and inform in case they visit the place again,’ she told to the newsmen.
The villagers lamented that had the police been deployed at the construction site the incident would have been averted. When asked, SP Hamirpur Anil Kumar Singh said three workers were dead in the incident. He said the police were searching the miscreants. He refused to give more details saying he was busy in handling the law and order situation in the area.