Tension prevailed in Hathras after the body of a 27-year-old Dalit youth, Amit Gautam, was found at the gate of a mosque in Khandari Gadhi on Tuesday morning.
According to police, the body was noticed early in the morning by some passer-by. The deceased reportedly had head Injuries and had bled profusely. The body has been sent for post-mortem and additional police forces were deployed in the area to avoid any untoward incident, said a senior police official.
Talking to TOI, SP, Hathras, Ghule Susheel said that a case has been registered against five people, Mohd Alam, Saddam, Khalid, Sukail and Ashu under sections 396 (Dacoity with murder) and SC/ST act. Saddam has been arrested by the police. He said, further investigations are on.
According to complaint lodged by the deceased’s family members, Amit went out on Monday evening for getting some corrections in his certificates. When he didn’t come back late night, his family members went out to search for him but couldn’t trace him.
On Tuesday morning around 7am, some known persons informed the family that Amit’s body was lying near the mosque. The deceased’s family members alleged the involvement of five people in his murder due to an old dispute with them. Investigations are underway in the case.
Earlier, Police arrested on Wednesday the prime accused in the murder of 23-year-old Abhishek Gupta alias Chandan during communal clashes on Republic Day in Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj town.
Uttar Pradesh Police identified the accused as Saleem Javed. Police said Saleem, his two brothers – identified only by their first names Waseem and Naseem – and 17 others have been charged with murder and under other sections of the Indian Penal Code.
“Saleem was arrested by a team of local police today (Wednesday). We are continuing our efforts to arrest other accused in the matter,” said additional director general of police (Agra), Ajay Anand. The officer declined to give further details about the arrest.
District magistrate of Kasganj, RP Singh, also confirmed Saleem’s arrest to the press.
The FIR in the case had been lodged on a complaint by Gupta’s father at Kotwali Police station of Kasganj.
Saleem was absconding after the incident. Police teams recovered a pistol and some crude explosives from his residence during a raid on Saturday night.
Gupta was shot dead during an altercation between two communities over a bike rally on Republic Day, police have said.
