Two more accused were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the killing of a 50-year-old man, who had filed a police complaint regarding his daughter's alleged molestation in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh, officials said.
Rohitash Sharma and Nikhil Sharma were arrested, though the main accused, Gaurav Sharma, is still at large and a cash reward of Rs one lakh has been announced on information leading to his arrest, Hathras Superintendent of Police (SP) Vineet Jaiswal said.
Of the four accused named in the police complaint, Lalitesh Sharma was arrested on Tuesday, he added.
A cash reward of Rs 25,000 each was announced on information leading to the arrest of Rohitash Sharma and Nikhil Sharma, the police officer said.
Five teams have been formed to trace Gaurav Sharma, he said, adding that the teams are continuously working in Hathras as well as in other districts of the state.
Ambrish Sharma, 50, a farmer, was allegedly shot dead in Nozarpur village of the Sasani area in Hathras on Monday by Gaurav Sharma, an accused in a 2018 molestation case who was out on bail. He was accused of molesting the victim's daughter.
Taking note of the incident, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered strict action against the accused on Tuesday and directed officials to invoke provisions of the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against them.
In a tweet, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav had said women in Uttar Pradesh have lost the hope of getting justice from the state government and tagged a video of a girl.
The state BJP then alleged that the main accused in the Hathras incident is SP worker Gaurav Sharma, who runs his social media pages with the name Gaurav Songra.
SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary, however, rejected the charge, saying, "Gaurav Sharma is not a leader of the Samajwadi Party but that of the BJP. There are photographs of Gaurav Sharma with BJP leaders to prove this."
