A `panchayat’ called to settle a marital dispute snowballed into a tragedy when one of the parties opened indiscriminate fire, killing two persons and injuring another, in the New Basti area of Jaswantnagar police circle in Etawah on Thursday evening.
Later, three persons were taken into custody and a licensed firearm was seized by the police.
Assessing the simmering tension, the administration deployed additional police force in the area.
As per reports, Nitin Yadav of Jaswantnagar and his wife Neha had a long-standing marital dispute. To resolve the issue, Neha's uncle Ram Shankar and another kin, Kailash Chandra Yadav, along with others came to her husband’s home at New Basti area on Thursday.
During the dialogue, the two parties had a heated exchange of words which transformed into a scuffle. Meanwhile, Nitin’s father, Sarvesh Yadav, who is a retired Army man, took out his licensed rifle and opened indiscriminate fire causing grievous wounds to three persons present there.
The injured were rushed to a hospital but Ram Shankar (50) died on the way while Kailash Yadav (55) succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. A third injured was undergoing treatment in the hospital.
A case was registered at Jaswant Nagar police station and investigations were underway.
Meanwhile, sleuths of Special Task Force’s Varanasi Unit gunned down a dreaded criminal, Harish Paswan, in Ballia on Friday morning.
Earlier, ADG, Varanasi Zone, had announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for his arrest.
Paswan had contested the recently held district panchayat elections from Rasra (Ballia).
As per reports, acting on a tip-off, a STF team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police DK Sahi surrounded Harish Paswan and asked him to surrender on Friday morning. However, Paswan decided to flee the spot and fired at the cops to prevent them from closing in on him. The STF sleuths returned the fire in which Paswan was killed.
Paswan was involved in 30 odd heinous criminal cases and was active in the Varanasi zone for the last six months. Even during district panchayat polls, he had eliminated a rival by shooting him in broad daylight.