A journalist working as a correspondent for a Hindi daily and his wife were brutally beaten to death in Barwadih village of Sonbhadra, police said on Wednesday.
According to reports from Sonbhadra, the victim, Uday Paswan died on the spot while his wife, Sheetla, succumbed to injuries at a hospital in Varanasi on Tuesday.
The killing was the result of an old enmity with a former village head.
The deceased had approached the Kone police for security in view of threat to him and his family but no action was taken. Three police personnel have now been suspended for dereliction of duty.
Superintendent of Police at Sonbhadra, Ashish Srivastava, said on Wednesday, “Inspector of Kone police station, a sub-inspector and a constable have been suspended in this connection. Five of the six accused have also been arrested while the main accused, Keval Paswan, who is a former village head, is absconding.”
Uday and Sheetla had gone to the Kone police station on Monday morning to pursue their demand for security. Late on Monday evening, when the couple were returning home on a motorcycle, they were attacked with sticks and rods. The couple cried for help but no one came forward.
Uday died on the spot and Sheetla was admitted to hospital with serious injuries and died on Tuesday evening.
The body of Uday was sent for post-mortem.
Srivastava said, “On the complaint of Uday’s son Vinay Paswan, a named FIR against former village head Keval Paswan, his wife Kaushalya, sons Jitendra, Gabbar, Sikandar and his representative Ekhlaq Alam, has been registered under sections 147, 148 and 302 of the Indian Penal Code.”
Regarding the enmity of Uday with Keval and his family, Vinay informed the police that his father was also a farmer and worked as a correspondent with a Lucknow-based Hindi daily. He said Uday had a land dispute with Keval and cases had been lodged against both the groups in 2016, 2018 and this year too. Vinay said, “My father had also given a complaint at the chief minister’s Janata Darbar in Lucknow. Despite directives issued from the CM Office, the Sonbhadra police did not pay any attention.”