Lakhimpur Kheri (Uttar Pradesh): Tension prevailed in Sampurna Nagar town of Lakhimpur Kheri district in Uttar Pradesh when a girl died by suicide after her objectionable video, which was allegedly recorded by her beau, went viral. Enraged by the death of their daughter, the family members staged a dharna by keeping the body of the girl on the road on Saturday.
The family accused the son of a businessman living in their neighbourhood of converting the girl and making the objectionable video viral. He was also accused of instigating the girl to die by suicide. On learning about the incident, the angry mob, including locals and relatives, along with the family members, staged a protest by keeping the body of the girl on the road. The enraged crowd started setting fire to the shop of the accused.
Similarly, the fruit and vegetable shops of a particular community were ransacked. Seeing the ruckus, when the police tried to stop it, the crowd clashed with the police. To disperse the mob, the police resorted to lathicharge in turn the mob started pelting stones at the police. Seeing the unruly mob, the police took charge. On receiving the information, ASP Naipal Singh also reached the spot and tried to pacify the protesters. DM Mahendra Bahadur Singh and SP Ganesh Prasad Saha left from the headquarters for the incident site.
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Meanwhile, the family members and the crowd demanded the authorities concerned run over a bulldozer on the house of the accused. The body of a teenage girl from a family living near Gurudwara Market was found hanging in the house on Thursday. After this, the family members accused Zahid Akhtar, son of Zahid Noor, who runs a furniture shop in the neighbourhood, of making the objectionable video of the girl viral. Based on the complaint of the family members, the police registered an FIR against Zahid Akhtar and his two brothers.
The police conducted a post-mortem and handed over the body to the family members on Friday evening. Preparations were going on for the last rites of the girl on Saturday. Earlier, the youth of the Hindu organisation started protesting, along with the family members, by placing the body on the road. Meanwhile, some people in the crowd reached the furniture shop of the accused and started vandalising it.
The furniture was kept on the road and the shops and furniture were set on fire. When the police tried to control the crowd, the mob pelted stones at the police. To control the mob, the police lathi-charged and tried to disperse the crowd. Within no time there was a ruckus on the road. The mob also started vandalising shops belonging to a particular category. Started targeting fruit and vegetable shops. Their goods were thrown on the streets.
The police resorted to lathi-charge to control the crowd. But, the uproar continued. After this, Additional SP Naipal Singh reached the spot and tried to pacify the crowd but the angry people were not ready to agree. Hence, additional forces from other police stations have been sent to the spot as a precautionary measure.
