After the murder of three pujaris in Etah and of another in Aligarh on Saturday afternoon, a priest of a Deoria temple was battered to death in broad daylight on Monday.

Before the police could take cognisance of the case, the angry locals caught the assailant and lynched him, in Sadar Kotwali area.

Circle officer (Sadar) Varun Mishra said that they were informed that Moti Yadav (65), a priest of Sakrapur village, was battered to death by his neighbour Pintu Yadav on Monday morning. 

The CO said that before the police reached the spot, the agitated villagers nabbed the assailant and assaulted him. He said on reaching the spot, the police rescued the injured assailant and rushed him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A case has been registered and is being investigated. A heavy police force has been deployed in the area to avert any untoward incident.

Meanwhile, in Farrukhabad, two youths were found murdered under mysterious circumstances in Jahenaganj locality on Sunday night.

Farrukhabad district police chief Santosh Kumar Mishra said that the police were informed about the bodies of two youths lying on the main road at Jahenaganj area on Monday morning.

On reaching the spot, the police managed to ascertain their identities of the deceased as Anil Pratap Singh (37) and Godhan (29) of Thada in Saurikh locality of Kannauj.

A Hyundai Santro car was also found abandoned at some distance from the place where the bodies were lying.

The victims’ families were contacted and they revealed that the duo had left together on Sunday evening and they launched a hunt when both did not return home till late in the night. While the family could not suspect any motive behind the murder, the cops suspect that an affair might have resulted in their deaths. While Anil was married, Godhan was a bachelor.

The bodies were sent for autopsy and a case was registered. Investigations are on.