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Updated: Jul 21, 2019 00:17 IST

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath will visit Sonbhadra town in eastern UP to meet the family members of the 10 people killed in firing last Wednesday over a land dispute. Yogi Adityanath’s visit follows Priyanka Gandhi’s meeting with some members of the affected families in a Chunar guesthouse on Saturday.

Ten people, all Gond tribals, were shot dead when the village headman, Yagya Dutt and his supporters allegedly opened fire in an attempt to take possession of a piece of land in Ubbha village in Sonbhadra’s Ghorawal area.

UP CM had announced the arrest of twenty-nine people in the case while blaming the previous Congress governments for letting the land dispute to go on for decades.

Adityanath’s visit to the town comes amidst opposition’s criticism that the state government had turned the town into a cantonment and was stifling democracy by preventing visits by the opposition leaders.

“Instead of ensuring justice to the families of victims, the BJP government has turned Ubbha village into a cantonment and is treating villagers like criminals. The government is standing with the criminals, and not with the families of the victims,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged in Delhi.

The Congress leader called the Sonbhadra incident, “a massacre” and an act of “institutional killing”. He also accused chief minister Yogi Adityanath-led UP government of patronising the perpetrators of the heinous crime.

“The Adityanath government is patronising the criminals. These murders should be considered as institutional killings,” said Surjewala in Delhi.

Earlier today, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi met some family members of the tribals killed in Sonbhadra firing. The next of kin of the victims had travelled to the Chunar guesthouse to meet Priyanka Gandhi. After her meeting, Priyanka lashed out at the Yogi government, asking the government to meet the demands made by the victims’ families.

Priyanka supported the five demands made by the kin, including possession of the land which they had cultivated for ages, trial of the firing case in a fast-track court, withdrawal of cases lodged against the Umbha villagers, full security to the locals of Umbha and Rs 25 lakh each to kin of those killed in the firing.

She also asked the UP government to conduct a full probe into the incident while announcing a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for families of each victim on behalf of the Congress party.

“A thorough and fair probe should be carried in this case and the tribals should get justice. I will tell my party lawyers to support Umbha locals in their fight for justice.” Priyanka said.

Earlier, delegations of the Congress and the Trinamool Congress party headed to Sonbhadra, were stopped at the Varanasi airport. The Congress leaders were later allowed to visit Chunar which is about 65 kms from Sonbhadra and the TMC delegation led by parliamentarian Derek O’Brien was sent to the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi, about 74 kms from Sonbhadra.