Tension prevailed in Agra after a 28-year-old youth was allegedly beaten and stabbed to death by eight people in the communally-sensitive Rakabganj area late Monday night.
The police said they have deployed forces from four nearby districts besides personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and local police in the area to prevent the situation from taking an ugly turn following the murder.
Mohammed Waqar Yunus, father of Abid Qureshi alias Musa, lodged an FIR at the Rakabganj police station. Yunus has named Sanju, Titu, Vikram, Santoshi, Kallu and Vikram, and two others in the FIR for killing his son.
The police said they had arrested seven men, including the six named in the FIR, so far.
"We were informed that an injured person was found lying unconscious near the railway track passing through the Mantola and Rakabganj localities. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. An FIR in this connection has been lodged at the Rakabganj police station against eight persons. We have arrested seven persons so far while six police teams are searching for others named in the FIR,” said Agra’s Commissioner of Police Pritinder Singh.
Singh said the arrested men had been sent to jail after being produced in a local court.
“Elaborate security arrangements have been made in the affected parts of the city and the situation is under control. Police patrolling has been intensified to ensure that the situation does not get worse,” the PRO told media persons.
Abid's eldest brother Nasir Qureshi said Abid, who was the second among four brothers, was employed in a shoe factory.
“Monday was his day off and he left the house around 6 pm and when he did not come home late in the night we looked for him. Later, we were informed that the police found an injured man near the railway track. We rushed to the place and identified him,” Qureshi added.
"We rushed our son to the government hospital where the doctors asked us to lodge a report with the police first and only then he would be provided medical assistance. My son was bleeding badly but the doctors at the hospital refused to treat him. We then took him to a nursing home where he was pronounced dead. Had he been provided immediate medical assistance, my son would have been alive today,” Yunus alleged.
It may be mentioned that Mantora and Rakabganj are communally sensitive areas in Agra where people belonging to Hindu and Muslim communities live in different localities. The police said the railway line crossing between the two localities acts like a border and is also a place where local teens indulge in gambling, drinking alcohol, and consuming drugs.
"We have yet to find out the motive for the murder but we have been told that the deceased too had an addiction to gambling and he owed money to those living in the other locality. This could be the reason for his killing. Our investigation is going on,” said a police officer.
In another killing in Mainpuri, a 40-year-old worker was brutally stabbed to death over a petty dispute over threshing of mustard seeds. The incident took place in Gulabpura village under Kurawali police station on Tuesday afternoon.
Prempal Yadav (50), a resident of Nagla Amar Singh village under Jasrana police station of Firozabad district, used to do threshing work. About a week ago, he along with some of his colleagues had come to thresh mustard in the farm of Ankit, a resident of Gulabpura village in Mainpuri. On Tuesday he was threshing the mustard when some villagers, identified as Govind, Omveer and Golu came there and asked Prempal to first do work in their field. This led to a dispute after which all the accused brutally stabbed Prempal to death.
After getting the information, Additional Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar, Circle Officer Sanjay Verma along with the police force reached the spot and launched a hunt for the accused.
Meanwhile, the brother of a sitting pradhan and his kin were killed in Amethi on Monday night. The incident took place under the Musafirkhana police station and the deceased were identified as Suresh Yadav and Brijesh Yadav.
As soon as the information about the double murder was received, police officers, with reinforcements from many police stations, reached the spot. An officer said, “Suresh Yadav, a resident of Sangraha, along with his nephew Brijesh Yadav and another person, Shubham Verma (a relative of the deceased), were returning home in a car when two motorcycle-borne miscreants intercepted them near Durga Master’s kiln on the road and opened fire. Two of them were killed at the spot while Shubham Verma escaped. After the incident, the assailants fled the spot.”
Both were taken to Musafirkhana community health centre by an ambulance where doctors pronounced them dead, police said.
The brother of Brijesh Yadav, the pradhan of the village, dragged the local administration to the crime, saying, “The murder could be fallout of a dispute arising out of an election. Security and arms licences were continuously demanded from the administration but nothing happened. We demand security from the administration.”
“There were a total of seven assailants, of which I have identified five,” said a relative of the deceased.
Meanwhile, the Superintendent of Police Elamaran reached the spot and claimed that the accused would be arrested soon.