POSTED ON NOVEMBER 1, 2020

Victim’s family claims that the five men often threatened to extort money from the Panchayat leader

At least three upper-caste men were arrested for allegedly burning alive the husband of Bandoiya village’s Gram Panchayat President in Amethi district on October 29, 2020.

Amethi/UNI: A dalit, hushand of a woman village panchayat head, was burnt alive by some people here in Munshiganj area of the district.

The incident was reported from Bandoiiya village under Munshiganj police station area, where the victim, who happens to be the husband of village head was burnt by some miscreants on Thursday evening.

Family has accused some opponents of committing the murder. The gram panchayat said five to six people from the village attacked her husband and set him on fire over money dispute.

Police here on Friday said 40-year-old Arjun Kori was found in a burnt state inside the boundary of a house in the village at around 2230 hours on Thursday.

The family rushed him to Community Health Centre in Naugirwa for treatment.

The doctors referred him to the Sultanpur District Hospital. He was later referred to the Trauma Center Lucknow where he died on way to the hospital early Friday morning.

Heavy police force was deployed at the deceased’s house to avoid any unwanted situation. The family members have named five people for the murder and a case in this regard has also been registered.

“We received information last night and immediately police reached the spot and sent the husband of gram pradhan for treatment from where he was referred to Sultanpur and later on he was referred to Lucknow. Today, in the morning he succumbed while on his way to Lucknow,” Dinesh Singh, SP of Amethi said.

Police on Friday arrested three out of five accused in the case. Police have sent the body for post-mortem and have started investigating the case. 

According to President Chutaka, her husband had gone out to the village square for a cup of tea on Thursday evening. However, he never returned. Chutaka alleged that Krishna Kumar Tiwari and his four friends abducted Arjun and burnt him alive in their front yard. She claimed that Tiwari threatened them to extort money. Tiwari believed that he was entitled to a ‘cut’ of the government money Chhotka supposedly received. However, when they denied the existence of any such money, the five men burnt the man in a fit of rage, said Chutaka.

According to Amethi Superintendent of Police (SP) Dinesh Singh, police were notified about Arjun’s burnt body outside Tiwari’s house around midnight. The officials took him to the local Primary Health Care centre from where he was referred to a hospital in Sultanpur.

Before his death, Arjun’s family recorded his statement wherein he accused K. K. Tiwari, Ashutosh, Rajesh, Ravi and Santosh for burning him alive. The family registered a case of murder at Munshiganj police station against the five men.

The incident has considerably upset Amethi residents as visuals and recordings of the victim were circulated on social media. Netizens have shared news regarding the incident under the hashtag Dalit Lives Matter.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, Uttar Pradesh recorded 11,829 crimes against Scheduled Castes in 2019 making up nearly 26 percent of the total crimes against Scheduled Castes last year.