A close confidant of newly-elected MP from Amethi, Smriti Irani, was shot dead by unknown assailants, sparking tension in the region with Bharatiya Janata Party leaders claiming that it was the handiwork of Congress goons because they were not able to digest the defeat of their party chief Rahul Gandhi in his pocket borough.
Surendra Singh (50), a former head of Baraulia village, was shot at around 11:30 pm on Saturday. He was considered a close lieutenant of Smriti Irani and had played a pivotal role in her victory in this election.
Smriti Irani rushed to Amethi on Sunday afternoon and took part in the funeral. In a rare gesture, she became one of the pallbearers. She also assured the bereaved family that the assailants would not be spared and she and her party would now look after their welfare.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed the state Director General of Police to take strict action and arrest the assailants within 12 hours.
“IG Lucknow has gone to Amethi and is monitoring the investigation,” a government spokesperson said.
UP Minority Welfare Minister Mohsin Raza, who is in-charge of the district, also rushed to Amethi and directed the police to take stern action against the assailants.
“The government is serious and police will not spare the killers,” he said.
Superintendent of Police of Amethi, Rajesh Kumar, said former pradhan of Baraulia village, Surendra Singh (50), was shot dead when he was sleeping outside his house. He said two motorcycle-borne assailants opened fire on the former gram pradhan.
Surendra Singh was rushed to the KGMU Trauma Centre in Lucknow but doctors pronounced him “brought dead”.
Later, a panel of three doctors conducted the post-mortem.
Surendra Singh had actively campaigned for Smriti Irani in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls in which she defeated Congress president Rahul Gandhi by a margin of over 55,000 votes.
Baraulia village, of which Surendra Singh was a former pradhan, was adopted by former Defence Minister late Manohar Parrikar on the initiative of Smriti Irani.
Though the slain former gram pradhan’s son Sanjay Pratap Singh suspected the hand of Congress supporters in the murder, some villagers of Baraulia said that property-related dispute could also be a motive.
“Surendra Singh was a trustee of Sagra Ashram headed by one Mauni Baba. Recently, Surendra Singh had opposed illegal sale of the ashram’s property by the brother of Mauni Baba,” the neighbours of the slain pradhan said.
Meanwhile, police have launched a manhunt to nab the assailants. Around 10 people have been detained by the police so far while four teams have been set up to crack the crime, the Amethi district police chief said.
While saying that the incident could not be ruled out to be a “political murder”, the district police chief said all aspects were being probed and there could be old enmity as well.
Women family members of the slain ex-pradhan were inconsolable. “He (Singh) never had any enmity with anyone despite being a village pradhan for many years,” a teary-eyed elderly lady told reporters. “And as the (Lok Sabha) elections were over, enemies surfaced. From where they came, who came, no one knows,” she said.
This is the second post-poll murder after a Samajwadi Party district panchayat member , Vijay Yadav, was shot dead in Sarlapur area of Ghazipur district on Friday.
