6 killed in UP village over land dispute, 14 detained
Both the attacks took place in a span of less than 30 minutes, the police said, adding that 14 people have been detained so far. Heavy police deployment has been made in the village considering that the dispute involves two castes.
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Special Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said prima facie it appears that the murders in Fatehpur took place in connection with the land dispute. (Representational Photo) SIX PERSONS, including five of a family, were killed over an almost decade-old land dispute that flared up Monday morning at Fatehpur village in Deoria district of Uttar Pradesh.
According to police, a former zila panchayat member, Prem Yadav (53), was attacked with blunt objects and killed by his rival Satya Prakash Dubey and his family members when he went to his house. In retaliation, a group of people killed Satya Prakash, his wife and three children, including two daughters. One son survived the attack and was admitted to hospital with critical injuries.
Both the attacks took place in a span of less than 30 minutes, the police said, adding that 14 people have been detained so far. Heavy police deployment has been made in the village considering that the dispute involves two castes.
Taking a serious note of the incident, Chief Minister Yogi Aditya Nath sent Principal Secretary (Home) Sanjay Prasad and Special DGP (law and order) Prashant Kumar to the village to take stock of the situation.
Superintendent of Police Sankalp Sharma said a preliminary inquiry found Prem Yadav had bought 10 bighas of land from Satya Prakash’s elder brother Gyan Chand Dubey in 2014. Satya Prakash objected to the deal and took the matter to court. Few years after selling his land, Gyan Chand moved out of the state.
Although the matter is still pending in court, things got ugly on Monday around 7.30 when Prem Yadav went to check the land he bought, located close to Satya Prakash’s house.
Satya Prakash also reached the spot and made some remarks against Prem Yadav, the police said. After this he returned home. A few minutes later, Prem Yadav reached Satya Prakash’s house and both got into heated arguments. The matter soon escalated and Satya Prakash’s family members attacked Prem Yadav with blunt objects leading to his death.
As word about the murder spread, a group of around 10-15 people marched to Satya Prakash house and attacked him and his family members with sharp weapons.
Satya Prakash, (54) his wife Kiran Dubey (52), daughters Saloni (17) and Nandani (10) and son Gandhi (15) died in the attack. Another son, Anmol (8), was critically injured.
Deoria District Magistrate Akhand Pratap Singh said the authorities got information about the incident around 8 am. “The incident occurred after an altercation between two groups… a person from one group was found dead and six others were found in an unconscious state, of whom five were declared dead by doctors at the hospital,” he said. “The cause behind the incident is stated to be a longstanding land dispute between two families of the village.”
Confirming that 14 people have been detained, Special DGP Prashant Kumar, who reached the village in the evening, said strict action will be taken against those involved in the killing. He said action will also be taken against officials if any negligence is found on their behalf.
Fathepur village is around 20 km from Deoria district headquarter and is dominated by Yadav and Nishad castes. Two companies of PAC have been deployed in the village to avoid any untoward incident.
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