Akhilesh Yadav meets victims’ kin in Deoria, warns govt: ‘Don’t instil bulldozer fear’

On October 2, Prem Prakash Yadav (53), a former zila panchayat member, was first hacked to death allegedly by Satya Prakash Dubey (54) and his family members when he went to their house regarding the dispute. In retaliation, a group of people linked to Yadav allegedly killed Dubey, his wife Kiran Devi (52), their son Dipesh (15), and daughters Saloni (17) and Nandini (10).

The SP chief offered tributes to the victims from the Dubey family from outside the house and went to visit the family of Prem Prakash Yadav, who was initially killed. “If you (government) are fair and believe in zero tolerance then help both the families. There should be no bias against anyone. You want to use the bulldozer on someone’s house. The question is not of demolition of the house but of your intention,” said Akhilesh.

He further said, “The Deoria incident is very important from the point of view of governance, administration and justice. We condemn this incident. We have not seen such a heart-wrenching incident in UP, where so many people died.”

“Prem Yadav was called to a house and then killed with a sharp weapon. Then the news of his death spread and the second incident took place. I went to the spot and asked why he left the house alone. He must have gone there with some faith but his life was taken,” said Akhilesh.

“My question is whether those talking about zero tolerance would be biased and would allow such an incident to happen and then try to take political advantage of the same. The picture that has emerged after the incident shows that BJP wants to take political advantage of the incident,” the SP leader said.

“But I want to ask BJP leaders when (gangster) Vikas Dubey was killed in an encounter by overturning his vehicle, did they also meet his family members in this way? I also remember an incident in Kanpur Dehat, when his daughter and wife were killed by a bulldozer in front of a man. Did BJP people meet his family in this manner? I remember that the son of the family sitting in protest at the DM’s residence was beaten up,” he claimed.

The way action has been taken against 20 officials shows that the state government has acknowledged its mistake, he claimed, alleging that only junior officials were punished while senior ones were spared.

“The question is not of a caste or community. Here people lost their lives which cannot be brought back. You want to instil fear among people but remember that before the power of people the power of a government cannot stand,” he added.

Earlier, Satya Prakash Dubey’s son Devesh Dubey, who refused to meet Akhilesh, said, “I don’t want to meet him since it was during the SP government in 2014 that they (Yadav family) got land registered in their name by misleading my mentally retarded uncle without any payment. When we wanted to build a house on our land we were stopped from doing so at gunpoint.”