A murder accused held 20 children hostage at a house in Kasaria village here since 4pm, police said. Subhash Batham, who had invited the children, aged  five to seven, for a birthday party, opened fire when locals tried to open the door. One person sustained gunshot injuries in his leg. Batham even hurled a bomb from the window.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is monitoring the situation, and a NSG team has been rushed in.

The children has been held hostage for past seven to eight hours, a distraught mother said around 11 pm. “They must be thirsty and hungry by now,” she said.    

Television channels have appealed to Batham to contact them in case he wanted to share his demands with the Government or authorities.       

“A special team of trained personnel is on the spot and we have kept NSG commandos on standby. Our priority is to rescue children at the earliest,” said UP Police chief OP Singh.

A huge crowd has collected at the spot comprising mainly parents of the children who have been held hostage.

Late at night, the captor released a six-month-old girl even as the rescue op was on.

A top home department official has asked the electronic media not to show rescue operation live. 

Police said Batham is a murder accused and he seems to be mentally unstable.  Inspector General of Police, Kanpur Range, Mohit Agarwal, said, “The man called the children for a birthday party and held them hostage in the basement of the house. He fired six shots from inside the building.”

He said Batham, who appears to be mentally unstable, fired on those who attempted to speak to him. Batham wanted to talk to the local MLA, but he refused to speak to the leader when he arrived, Agarwal said.