LUCKNOW: Cracking the murder case of four of a family in Amethi district on October 3, the UP police shot and injured the accused Chandan Verma in the leg on Saturday morning. The accused was admitted to a hospital where he is undergoing treatment.As per the police sources, accused Chandan Verma had been in an illicit affair with the wife of a deceased teacher who was killed along with his wife and two daughters by him on Thursday.Sunil Kumar, a 35-year-old government school teacher, his 32-year-old wife Poonam, and the couple’s two daughters, Drishti and Lado, were shot dead in the Ahorwa Bhawani area of Amethi on Thursday.In the wake of the incident, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath condoled the loss of lives and also met the bereaved family. He accepted all their demands and ordered a probe into the role of Rea Bareli police.The CM also assured the family of a government job to one of the family members, five bigha land and the strictest action against the accused. Nearly three weeks before the family of four was brutally killed, accused Chandan Verma, had updated, in what seemed to be a warning, as the status of his WhatsApp. “Five people are going to die, I will show you soon,” the message on Chandan’s WhatsApp still reads, sources said.It was also not clear who the fifth person referred to was, and investigations over the same are underway. The status was updated on September 12, days after the Amethi family had lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against Chandan, on August 18, accusing him of eve-teasing. As per Amethi SP Anoop Kumar Singh, the FIR against Chandan was lodged by Poonam, under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.The complainant had mentioned that “if anything happens to her or her family”, Chandan Verma should be held responsible for it. However, a statement issued by the police department said Chandan was arrested on October 4. He snatched a police weapon and fired on the police team in an attempt to escape. Chandan was injured in a retaliatory police shootout, it said.The incident happened on Saturday morning when Chandan Verma was being taken for the recovery of the murder weapon, police said. On Friday, the police authorities addressed a press conference and revealed that the incident was the fallout of an illicit relationship between Chandan Verma and Poonam, the wife of Sunil Kumar.“The accused had been in an affair with Poonam Bharti, the wife of deceased teacher Sunil Kumar for a year and a half. During the incident, the accused kept firing at anyone who came in front of him and even attempted suicide, but the bullet missed. He was unable to fire again out of fear and fled the scene. He had entered the house from the front and escaped from the back. This was his first visit to the woman’s house,” Amethi Superintendent of Police Anoop Kumar Singh said.“The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) arrested Chandan near Jewar toll plaza. Verma travelled through different routes, including Prayagraj, before being caught. Five teams were formed to crack the case,” Singh said. Senior police officials described the Amethi murder case as a challenging investigation with the dearth of clues, but the Facebook profiles of the victim’s wife, Poonam, and the accused Chandan Verma, provided a breakthrough.Both had each other’s photos on their profiles, confirming their affair. The STF locked the profiles to prevent tampering. Initially, the police suspected robbery, but later, their love affair was revealed as the motive for the murder.At the same time, the Opposition launched a sharp attack against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dispensation over the law and order in the state. Meanwhile, as per the Congress sources, the party’s Rae Bareli MP Rahul Gandhi is likely to visit the victim’s family soon.
Source link
