In another violent incident ahead of the panchayat polls in Uttar Pradesh, a village headman in Jaunpur was shot dead by masked assailants, police said on Friday.
The murder led to tension in the area as locals staged a chakka jam on the Lucknow-Ballia highway demanding action against the culprits.
The deceased was identified as Basant Lal Bind, gram pradhan of Amari in Satpatha area of the Purvanchal district. Mr. Bind was allegedly shot dead by three unknown persons who stormed into a clinic run by him a few kms near his village and shot him dead on Thursday evening.
Based on the complaint of the pradhan’s son Praveen Bind, police arrested four of the five persons named by him, said Superintendent of Police Jaunpur Raj Karan Nayyar.
“Four out of the five persons named are in custody and being interrogated,” said the officer.
A special team was formed to probe the incident, he added.
The inspector in-charge Sarpatha was among three policemen suspended over the incident.
The murder comes a month after a Dalit pradhan in neighbouring district Azamgarh’s Tarwa area was shot dead following which enraged locals indulged in vandalism and damaged a police outpost.
