2 killed as family attacked over land dispute in Kanpur Dehat

This comes days after six persons, including five members of a family, were killed over a decade-old land dispute in Fatehpur village of the state’s Deoria district on Monday (October 2).

The Kanpur Dehat incident took place at Shahjahanpur Ninaya village where the family of one Mohanlal Shukla attacked his rival Satnarayan Lohar and his kin with sticks and weapons, officials said. While Satyanarayan (72) and his brother Ram Veer (60), who were injured grievously, died during treatment at the hospital, Ram Veer’s wife Madhu (55), daughters Madhu, Kaajal, and son Sonu are being treated for injuries, they added.

The police said a probe is being conducted to find out if there was any negligence on the part of the local police officials as a complaint related to the land dispute was lodged on the state government’s Integrated Grievance Redressal System (IGRS) several days ago.

A complaint regarding the dispute was also submitted to Kanpur Dehat District Magistrate Alok Singh, who referred it to the local Revenue Department officials. In the complaint, Mohanlal Shukla alleged that despite him having lodged written complaints with local police, no action was taken.

Special Director General of Police (Crime, Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said that Kanpur (range) Inspector General Prashant Kumar-II is overseeing the probe into the case.

IG Prashant Kumar-II said, “The Lohar family had the disputed land in their possession for over 50 years. The family claims that one Shankar Bari sold the land to them decades ago without any paperwork even as it was registered in the name of the Shukla family. The Lohars recently got money to construct a house under the PM Awas Yojana and wanted to construct the structure on the disputed land. The Shuklas then parked a vehicle there to block any construction work from taking place. When Satnarayan’s family put construction material on the land, the enraged Shukla family attacked them with sticks, resulting in the death of two people.”

The IG added, “We are looking into the alleged negligence of local police officials. A complaint was lodged in the case on September 30 on the Integrated Grievance Redressal System and a probe was ordered. We will take strict action against the police personnel who didn’t take action.”
According to the murder FIR lodged by Deenu, son of Ram Veer, the accused came armed with sticks, swords, and axes around 10 pm on Thursday. “They were abusing my father (Ram Veer). When my father asked them to not abuse him, they attacked him with weapons. On hearing the noise, I went there with other family members and we were also attacked,” the complainant said.

A case of murder, rioting, voluntarily causing hurt, and criminal intimidation was registered against Mohanlal Shukla, Anjani Shukla, Sundar Shukla, Ballu Shukla, Kanhaiya, Uday Narayan Shukla, Prem Kumar Shukla, Meera, Priya and two unidentified persons, the police said.

Kanpur Dehat District Magistrate Alok Singh said a complaint was submitted to him by Mohanlal Shukla on September 30 regarding the land dispute. “A complaint came to me through the IGRS last month. I sent it to the tehsildar and the station house officer (SHO) concerned. A date was fixed for hearing in the matter,” he said.

In his complaint to the DM, Shukla had alleged that Satnarayan, Ramveer, and their family had “taken over his land and were threatening him with false cases when he asked them not to construct a structure on the land”. Shukla also said that he had lodged a written complaint at the local police outpost, and at the Gajner police station, but no action was taken.

SP Murthy said the law and order situation was under control.