Sixteen years after the Butrada village massacre in Shamli district, a special task force (STF) team arrested a man accused of the crime on Tuesday. The accused, Devendra, was arrested from Butrada village in Shamli, said police.
Circle officer (CO) Brijesh Kumar Singh, part of the STF team, said that Devendra carried a bounty of Rs 12,000 on his arrest and had been on the run since the massacre on October 14, 2003.
“He kept hiding in Delhi, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Rajasthan to escape the police net. Recently, he returned to his village, Butrada, where he was arrested by the STF,” said the officer, adding, “He is being sent to the jail after bring produced before a court.”
Police said the main accused in the crime, contract killer Neetu Kail, along with Devendra and his family members had killed six people in the village to avenge one Mainpal’s murder. Mainpail, Devendra’s maternal uncle, was reportedly killed over an issue related to the village pradhan election.
The victims were Ramkishan, Satendra, Sunil, Rizwan, Rihan and Maroof, said police.
Police had arrested the six named accused and the court had pronounced capital punishment for two of them. One was awarded life imprisonment, one died during the court proceedings, while two are still in jail, said police. The main accused, Neetu Kail, was killed during a police encounter in 2004.
After him, his brother Bittu Kail led the gang but he too was killed in an encounter in 2014, said police.
