Top police officials are at the spot
A 38-year-old lawyer was shot in the head and killed at the Shahjahanpur district court in Uttar Pradesh on Monday afternoon in a chilling murder that has led to the arrest of a suspect.
According to the police, advocate Bhupendra Singh of Jalalabad tehsil had gone to a third-floor office in the district court to meet a clerk in connection with some case when a gunshot was heard and he was found dead. A country-made pistol was also spotted near the body.
While no suspect was found in the area, leading the police to say they were figuring out if it was a murder or suicide, lawyers at the complex launched a strike demanding the arrest of the accused.
Hours later, the police claimed the case had been solved and an accused had been arrested.
"The case has been worked out on the basis of CCTV footage. An advocate has been arrested. He accepted the crime. IG Range Bareilly is at the scene of the crime and interrogating the accused. Old enmity is the cause of the crime," senior Uttar Pradesh Police officer Prashant Kumar said.
Terming the incident as "very sad and shameful", Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati questioned the BJP government over the law and order situation in the state.
"The murder of a lawyer in the court premises of Shahjahanpur district of UP is very sad and shameful, which exposes the law and order situation in the BJP government here and the government's claims in this regard. Now finally the question arises that who is safe in UP? Government should pay proper attention to this," Ms Mayawati tweeted in Hindi shortly after the incident.