One person was killed and two were critically injured when former village head Shiv Shankar alias Bhurey Singh and his henchmen opened indiscriminate fire on rival Bhim Singh and his supporters at a panchayat in Dakshin ka Pura locality in Azamgarh district.
Azamgarh’s Superintendent of Police Anurag Arya said that a dispute between two groups took an ugly turn during a panchayat convened to decide the beneficiaries of a government housing scheme and Bhurey and his supporters opened indiscriminate fire.
"Himanshu Singh (32), Pradeep Singh Bhim (40) and Tavendra Singh Munna (38) suffered bullet injuries. They were rushed to the district hospital. In view of the critical condition of Himanshu, doctors referred him to a hospital in Varanasi where he died," the district police chief said.
"Five persons have been taken into custody so far. Four teams have been deputed to arrest Bhurey and his accomplices, who managed to escape after opening fire during the panchayat," the SP said.
In initial investigation, it came to light that a meeting was in progress to finalise the list of beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural). Former village head Bhurey was present in the meeting along with his henchmen. His political rival Bhim along with Himanshu and Munna were also present there. Bhim and his supporters alleged that Bhurey had ensured inclusion of the names of his close ones in the list of beneficiaries from which the names of genuine persons of the village were excluded. Following an exchange of heated words, Bhurey and Bhim came face to face and Bhurey and his supporters opened indiscriminate fire with their licensed guns on Bhim and others.
The police said that Himanshu suffered bullet injuries in the chest. Bhim and Munna too, suffered bullet injuries. After the firing, the assailants fled the scene.
On getting information of the incident, Mehnajpur police reached there and rushed the injured persons to a local hospital. Later, Arya along with other officials reached the spot. A car of the assailants was seized by the police at the site of the incident while five persons were taken into custody for interrogation.
Arya said, "Raids were being conducted at all possible hideouts of the assailants and they would be nabbed very soon."
Meanwhile a 53-year-old Samajwadi Party leader was found dead with injuries on his head at his home in Meerapur area under Katra police station in Shahjahanpur.
Police said the victim, Sartaz Khan, was alone when he was killed.
Police said the murder did not appear to be a fall out of a robbery as nothing was reported missing from the house.
“Prima facie, it appears the assailants knew the victim well,” the police said.
An FIR was registered against unidentified persons based on a complaint filed by the deceased's brother-in-law Mohammad Javed at Katra police station. No one has been arrested in the case yet. Superintendent of Police of Shahjahanpur, S Anand, said, “Footage from CCTVs installed around the area are being scanned. As the victim was wearing shoes when his body was found, it seems he was preparing to go somewhere when he was attacked.”
During the probe, police came to know Sartaz's wife Reshma had gone to her relatives’ house on Tuesday.
“When she returned, she found the door locked from inside and no one opened it despite several knocks. Later, with the help of locals, Reshma broke the door open and found Sartaz's body,” police said.
SP's Shahjahanpur unit president Tanveer Khan said Sartaz was an old member of the party and used to run a medical store.