UP Village Head's Family Seeks Fake Payment, Thrash, Lock Up Official

A village development officer was allegedly locked inside a room and thrashed by a village head's husband and son in UP's Bhadohi after he refused to clear a fraudulent payment, officials said.

An FIR has been lodged and an investigation has begun into the matter, they said.

Station House Officer (SHO) Ashwini Kumar Tripathi said the Village Development Officer (VDO) Pradeep Kumar Prajapati had gone to Chak Sikhari village on Wednesday to check on the development work where a man named Jai Prakash Mishra, the husband of village head Manju Devi, and his son Rishu Mishra demanded him to clear a fraudulent payment.

The SHO said that the VDO was taken inside a room and brutally beaten by Mishra and his son when he refused. His mobile phone was taken away and he was locked inside, Mr Tripathi added.

The VDO alleged that before releasing him, the man and his son threatened to lodge a false case against him if the payment was not cleared.

Mr Tripathi said that an FIR was registered against the two on the basis of the complaint received on Thursday under sections 332 (disruption in government work), 342 (forcibly restraining someone) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

District Development Officer Gyan Prakash said that there was a dispute with the village development officer regarding some payments.

Prakash said that if the work has been done then it is checked and the payment is made, but locking the employee in a room and beating him over fake payment is a serious matter.

A written complaint has been received from the village development officer and further action will be taken following the investigation, he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)