Police at the scene of violence in the Agra village. Photo credit: Kamir.

Violence erupted in the Mehra Naharganj village of Dauki area in Agra following the murder of a BJP leader. An angry mob attacked a police jeep, dragged the accused out of it and beat him to death.

Several policemen were injured while trying to control the violence in the area on Monday evening. Some angry villagers reportedly fired at the police.

The mob also torched a police jeep and the vehicle used by the alleged assailants before pushing it into the Yamuna river.

According to sources in the police, BJP leader Nathuram Verma had an old enmity with the alleged assailant Sudhir, a resident of Barauli Gujar village.

The two had started talking to each other recently but had a war of words over some issue following which the BJP leader was allegedly killed.

Agra BJP district president Shyam Bhadoriya, however, said that Nathuram Verma did not have any links with the party and was not a member of the BJP.

HOW IT ALL STARTED

When Nathuram Verma was shot, the villagers reportedly saw two people--Sudhir and Samar--running away from the spot. The duo was soon surrounded by villagers. The two men claimed that the BJP leader was gunned down by some robbers and they were fleeing the spot to save themselves.

The villagers doubted their version and called up the police. Sudhir and Samar were taken into police custody and were seated in a police jeep when an angry mob pulled Sudhir out of the jeep and beat him to death.

After killing Sudhir, the mob tried to pull Samar out of the jeep but the police managed to save him. With the violence spiralling out of control, extra force from seven police stations was rushed to the spot, and the situation was finally brought under control by night.

Agra District Magistrate Gaurav Dayal and SSP D C Dubey visited the village at night to assess the situation.

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