In a killing reminiscent of Gauri Lankesh’s murder last year, a prominent woman leader of the Congress from Baghpat district was shot dead in the broad daylight on Monday afternoon.

Three assailants barged into the house of middle-aged Munni Begum in Ketipur colony and shot three bullets into her chest and then drove off on their motorcycles, said eyewitnesses.

According to the family members of the slain leader, Munni had demanded police protection on several occasions fearing threat to her life, Zee news reported.

Munni was the district chief of Congress Sewa Dal. Previously, she was a corporator of the party. She had survived a similar attack before 2017 Parliamentary elections. Before that, her son Mohammad Nafis and she were attacked in 2012.

Jay Prakash, Superintendent of Police of Baghpat, who rushed to the spot after the incident, told reporters that he has constituted several teams to nab the culprits.

“We’ll reach the conclusion about motive behind the murder soon”, said the district police chief.

Reacting to the murder, Dwijendra Tripathi, spokesperson of Uttar Pradesh Congress said, “It is a proof that the selective encounter politics of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is boosting the morale of a section of criminals in the state. Yogi’s police are killing only those criminals who are critical of his government. But a large number of criminals are freely roaming across the state and eliminating their political rivals.”

Pertinently, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had recently claimed that the state police had gunned down about 40 criminals in 1,200 encounters in the last one year.