india

Updated: Aug 19, 2019 00:54 IST

A reporter of a Hindi daily and his brother were shot dead in their house by their neighbours in Madhopur locality of Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur on Sunday morning, police said.

Saharanpur SSP Dinesh Kumar said prima facie a trivial dispute over dumping of cow dung led to the murder of Ashish and his brother Abhishek. A case had been registered against the accused and his sons. “Three teams have been formed to arrest the accused,” said the SSP.

Taking cognizance of the incident, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has announced an ex gratia of ₹5 lakh each for the deceased persons and directed senior superintendent of police (SSP) of Saharanpur to take stern action against the assailants. “The government stands by the bereaved family in their moment of grief,” he said.

Meanwhile, angry residents of the locality made an attempt to torch the house of the accused, but timely intervention of the police averted it. Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) has been deployed in the locality.

Deceased Ashish, a reporter, had an altercation with his neighbour Mahipal over dumping of cow dung outside his house.

Police said on Sunday morning, Mahipal and his sons barged into Ashish’s house and shot him and his brother Abhishek.

The injured brothers were taken to hospital where doctors declared them brought dead. The SSP said investigation was underway to ascertain whether dumping of cow dung was the real reason behind the murders or it was a fallout of some other enmity. Police have taken two women of the family of the accused persons in custody.

Hitting out at the Adityanath government, Priyanka Gandhi in a tweet in Hindi said, “Now, what will you call this system where murders are being committed everyday by shooting people. Those responsible for controlling crime are busy in cover-ups and UP is in the grip of criminals.”