Two arrested for killing student leader in Varanasi college

A long rivalry between junior and senior students from the last two years led to murder in Uday Pratap College

Varanasi: Two students of Uday Pratap College were arrested in connection with the recent killing of a student leader on the campus here, police said Sunday.

Vivek Singh, the 22-year-old student leader, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in front of his hostel in the campus on the night of February 24.

Based on a tip-off, two students, identified as Abhishek Mishra (20), a resident of Cholapur and Himanshu Tiwari (20), a native of neighbouring Jaunpur district, were arrested late Saturday night from the Tarna crossing in Shivpur, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Suresh Rao Anand Kulkarni said.

The SSP said that both are students of the same college and were arrested for their alleged involvement in the case.

During the interrogation, both confessed that there was a long rivalry between junior and senior students from the last two years and Singh was from their rival group, whom they decided to kill on the instruction of another student leader Anupam Nagvanshi, whom Singh had slapped during the college freshers' party in 2017, the SSP said.

To avenge the insult of Nagvanshi, the student leader along with the duo and Ankit Singh Sengar, Shivam Singh, Atul Pandey, Rahul Rajput, Pawan Singh, Shubham Singh, Sunil Singh waited in ambush, Said Kulkarni.

When Vivek Singh, a B.Com second year student and native of Jamundeeh village in Azamgarh district, reached in front of the hostel, Shubham Singh and Sunil Singh fired eight shots at him, killing him on the spot, and then they all fled from the crime scene, he said.

Seven teams of police, including crime branch sleuths, were formed to trace those involved in the murder, the SSP said earlier.

Police recovered a .32 bore pistol and three live cartridges from the possession of the two arrested students, he said, adding that efforts are underway to nab the other absconding students.