Deoria (UP): Police here arrested one more person on Sunday, taking the number of people held in connection with the October 2 violence over a land dispute here that claimed six lives, to 21, a police official said. Six people, including five of a family, were killed in the violence in Fatehpur village of Deoria.
Circle Officer Anshuman Srivastava said the person arrested on Sunday has been identified as Navnath Mishra, who was named as one of the accused in the case. He was arrested from the Manauli tri-section, the police officer said. "Mishra was the driver of district panchayat member Prem Yadav who was killed in the attack. During interrogation, the accused claimed that on the day of the violence, he fired three shots from Prem Yadav's rifle targeted at Satyaprakash and his family members," the circle officer said.
The rifle has been recovered from the bushes near Mishra's house, he said, adding, "With this arrest, 21 people have been held in this case. On October 4, four accused were arrested." On October 2, former district panchayat member Prem Yadav (50) was attacked with sharp-edged weapons and killed by his rival Satyaprakash Dubey and his family when he went to his house. Soon after, Yadav's supporters from Abhaipur attacked Dubey's house in retaliation and killed Dubey, his wife Kiran Dubey (52) daughters Saloni (18) and Nandani (10) and son Gandhi (15).
Dubey's 8-year-old son Anmol was injured in the attack and admitted to the ICU of the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur. His eldest son, 17-year-old Devesh cremated his mother, father, one brother, and two sisters on the night of October 2. The first FIR was registered by Dubey's daughter Shobhita Dwivedi under the Indian Penal Code section, including 302 (murder), and 307 (attempt to murder), against 77 people.
In a cross-FIR by Prem Yadav's relative Anirudh Yadav, five victims including Dubey, his wife and children were named. The FIR was lodged under IPC sections 302 (murder), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with armed weapons), 149 (unlawful assembly), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), police said. Deoria District Magistrate Akhand Pratap Singh had earlier said the reason for the violence was a long-standing land dispute between the two families of the village.
