Bahraich zila panchayat member and senior leader of Samajwadi Party, Sanjay Valmiki alias Shibu, died in mysterious circumstances.

The family members claimed that Shibu died in a freak mishap when his pistol went off while he was cleaning it late Wednesday night.

Senior police officials confirmed on Thursday morning that Shibu (54) was hit by a bullet when his pistol suddenly went off while he was cleaning it on Wednesday night.

He was rushed to the district hospital in serious condition where he succumbed to his injuries.

The deceased was from the most powerful political family of the district. He was the elder brother of Bahraich zila panchayat chairman Nadeem Manna and eldest son of four-time SP MLA Shabbir Valmiki. This was his second term as member of the zila panchayat.

All the three sons of the former MLA were elected members of the district panchayat this time while his daughter was elected pramukh of Jamunaah block in Shravasti district.

The local police registered a case and sent the body for post-mortem. They are waiting for the autopsy report before closing the investigation.

In a separate incident reported from Ballia, a 17-year-old girl was allegedly raped by two men of her village when she went out of her house to attend nature's call.

According to the report lodged by the victim's mother on Thursday morning, the girl was raped by Bechan Singh (20) and Akash Singh (22) on Tuesday night while she had gone out to attend nature's call.

The accused also threatened the victim with her life if she dared to report the matter to anyone.

Superintendent of Police in Ballia, Sriparna Ganguly, said that she got a case registered and the matter was under investigation.

The girl was sent for medical examination. The police are waiting for the report before going ahead with the arrest of the accused.