The Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested six more people, including a constable, in connection with the alleged killing of three members of a Dalit family over a land dispute here last week, officials said on Thursday.
The arrests -- including of alleged mastermind and police constable Suresh Singh -- made in the intervening night of September 20-21 take the total number of those held in the sensational case to eight. Two were arrested on the day of the incident on September 15.
The Dalit family's three members -- Shivsharan (30), his wife Brijkali (25) and his father-in-law Horilal (60) -- were allegedly killed over a land dispute. Following the killings, angry villagers had set fire to several huts in the village.
Superintendent of Police Brijesh Kumar Srivastava said on Thursday the six arrested are: police constable Suresh Singh, Yadavendra alias Guddu Yadav, Arvind Singh Yadav, Amit Singh Chauhan, Anuj Singh Chauhan, and Tirath Nishad.
Two accused Amar Singh and Ajit Singh were arrested in this case earlier.
Police said they have recovered countrymade pistols, rifles and live cartridges from the accused.
The SP said the mastermind of the incident was constable Suresh Singh and during interrogation three more names have come to the fore and the police are trying to arrest them.
The accused are from the backward caste and they allegedly wanted to remove Shivsaran from the land and grab it, it has been alleged.
Shivsharan, a resident of Kakarabad village, had bought the piece of land near the Panda intersection -- close to his in-laws' home in Chhabile Pur village -- three years ago. He built a house on the land and lived there with Brijkali.
SP Srivastava said an FIR was registered against eight people under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on the complaint of Horilal's son Subhash Kumar.
Section 120 B (conspiracy) of the IPC and sections of the Arms Act have been included in the FIR.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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