Mystery shrouded the death of a 65-year-old astrologer and his 17-year-old grandson, whose bodies were found lying in a pool of blood outside a temple near their home in Rae Bareli on Monday morning.
The family members named three persons in this connection but the police claimed that they were investigating the incident and would arrest the accused only if their roles surfaced in the crime.
As per reports, famous astrologer of Parakhurd locality in Shivgarh (Rae Bareli) lakshmikant Shastri used to sleep on the verandah of a local temple. On Sunday night too, he along with his grandson Nirbhay Mishra went to the temple to retire for the day. On Monday morning when Shastri did not return home, his family members went to the temple to enquire. They were shocked to find both lying in pool of blood. Both had been fatally battered with stones.
A police team rushed to the spot and found an almirah in the temple broken with some items scattered on the floor. The police said that the family members accused three persons of Hassanpur in Bachrawa of committing the crime. They alleged that since they called off the marriage of one of the girls in their family with a boy related to the accused, they orchestrated the killing. The police however said that the circumstantial evidences pointed towards a case of loot and murder and hence they were trying to confirm it before initiating action against them. However, they were detained for quizzing.
Meanwhile, in Sonbhadra, unidentified assailants shot a village pradhan in Naxal-affected Kanhaura village on Sunday night. Reports said that pradhan Ramesh Maurya was called outside his home by the assailants and fired upon.