The probe made so far into the killing of Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Amethi, Smriti Irani’s aide Surendra Singh, has embarrassed the ruling party leaders who had accused Congress workers for the murder of the former gram pradhan following defeat of their party chief Rahul Gandhi.
Surendra Singh, 50, a former gram pradhan of Baraulia, was shot at while he was sleeping outside his house last Saturday. He was taken to a hospital where he died.
Despite being a former gram pradhan, Singh wielded considerable influence in Baraulia gram sabha and also in neighbouring villages.
A case was registered against five persons for killing Singh and Ramchandra, Dharmanath, Naseem and Golu were arrested. On Friday, prime accused Waseem was also arrested after an encounter in Shalhapur under Jamo police station of Amethi.
However, the probe into the murder has indicated that internal conflict among BJP leaders led to Singh’s murder. With the role of the ruling party leaders emerging, even police officers are tight-lipped on the motive of the murder. But on condition of anonymity, one of the officers confirmed that the deceased’s crass behaviour prompted his own colleagues to eliminate him.
The Amethi police on Friday claimed to have arrested prime accused Waseem after a brief encounter with him.
A police officer in Amethi revealed that initial probe suggested that some local BJP leaders were behind this murder. “This rivalry goes back to panchayat polls and after Smriti Irani won the Lok Sabha election, Singh started throwing his weight and this led to his murder,” the officer said.
He claimed that all the accused arrested so far were close to Surendra Singh and he had helped Golu and Dharmendra in opening a medical store in the village but they opened a garment shop later.
“Differences between them cropped up ahead of panchayat polls. Golu and Dharmendra wanted to contest the panchayat elections and as Surendra Singh was calling the shots in the BJP due to his proximity to Irani, they approached him. However, Surendra Singh did not help them and this led to bad blood between them. After Smriti Irani won the election from Amethi, Surendra Singh humiliated the duo and did not allow them to sit on the dais during celebration. It was probably then that they decided to eliminate him,” the officer said.
DGP OP Singh also admitted that Surendra Singh’s murder was due to local-level political rivalry. Without elaborating, the DGP said that the gram pradhan election was a bone of contention that led to the killing.
Earlier, the BJP tried to give a political colour to Surendra Singh’s murder, alleging that Congress leaders were behind it. Even the newly-elected MP from Amethi, Smriti Irani, not just air-dashed to her constituency and visited the victim’s house but also promised to take the matter to the apex court to get the accused convicted.