Army personnel killed by unidentified men in UP

An Army personnel, on a visit to his home, was attacked and killed by unidentified miscreants. His body was found on Saturday with severe head injuries in his car from the Neem Sarai area here.

Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh): An Army personnel, on a visit to his home, was attacked and killed by unidentified miscreants. His body was found on Saturday with severe head injuries in his car from the Neem Sarai area here.

Police have registered an FIR against unidentified assailants and a woman, who was with the army man in his car at the time of the incident.

Police have detained the woman and are also looking into her allegation that she was gang-raped by the assailants.

Reports said the army havildar's blood-stained body was found by his family members on the information given by the woman.

They rushed him to the Military Hospital in Prayagraj, where the doctors declared him dead.

Superintendent of Police (City) Dinesh Kumar Singh said, "The 38-year-old victim, identified as Ashutosh Kumar Singh, was a resident of Mahendra Nagar under Dhumanganj police station. He was working on the post of havildar in the Indian Army and was posted at Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir. He had come home on leave a few weeks back and was set to return back soon."

His father Ashok Kumar Singh informed the police that Ashutosh left home on Friday night on some errand. Later that night, Ashutosh's wife received a call on her mobile phone from a woman who informed her that Ashutosh was seriously injured and that his car was parked at a ground in Neem Sarai area. The family members soon rushed to the site and found him with severe injuries.

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The woman informed the victim's kin that she was accompanying Ashutosh to check on a plot of land when they decided to buy momos but lost the way and ended up at Neem Sarai.

Suddenly, they were interrupted by a few men who were blocking the road and this led to an argument with Ashutosh when he asked them to give way for the car to pass.

The men attacked Ashutosh with bricks causing him serious injuries on the head.

The SP said that on the complaint of the family members, an FIR has been registered against the woman who was accompanying Ashutosh and unidentified miscreants in connection with the crime.

"We have detained the young woman named by the family members in the FIR. During questioning, she first claimed that the unidentified miscreants also tried to rape her. However, she later changed her statement and claimed that she had been gang-raped. In the light of her conflicting statements, we are getting a medical examination of the woman conducted and have also sent her clothes for forensic examination," he added.

"The body of the victim has been sent for a post-mortem examination. Efforts are now on to identify and arrest the miscreants," the police official said.

IANS