Farrukhabad hostage crisis ends as captor is shot dead

FARRUKHABAD: A eight-hour hostage crisis involving 23 children in Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukhabad ended early on Friday as police shot dead a man in a dramatic operation but failed to prevent an angry crowd from allegedly lynching his wife, people aware of the developments said.

Forty-year-old Subhash Batham, a murder accused out on bail, held the children hostage in Karthia village and opened fire at policemen who laid siege to his house on Thursday. He invited the children on the pretext of his daughter’s birthday party in the afternoon and locked them in, according to the police. His wife and children, too, were inside the house, nearly 200 km from state capital Lucknow, when the gunfight broke out.

Late on Thursday, while a team of officials engaged Batham, a police team entered his house by breaking open a door. When Batham fire two bullets at the team, he was killed in retaliatory firing, the police said.

Anil Kumar Mishra, superintendent of police (SP) of Farrukhabad, said Subhash’s wife, Ruby Batham (40), was severely injured after an angry crowd attacked her while she was trying to run out of the house. “We rushed her to the hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries,” said Mishra. “…The crowd thrashed her in a fit of rage before the police could rescue her,” he added. Eight policemen and a villager were injured when Subhash opened fire during the siege, the police said.

The police action against Batham to rescue the children was launched late on Thursday night. The police said Batham, who was out on bail, demanded the withdrawal of a murder case against him. During the siege, Batham also sent out a letter addressed to the district magistrate, according to people present at the spot. In the letter, he is said to have complained that he was not allowed to make use of government schemes for housing and building toilets at home. He also alleged that he was being troubled by the police. In 2001, he allegedly stabbed a villager to death in a dispute over a drain. He was also accused in three robbery cases.

When Subhash demanded the withdrawal of the murder case against him, the police assured him they would consider it. They also talked about offering a government house to him. While Subhash initially released a sixmonth-old girl by handing her over to a neighbour from a balcony, he continued to hold the other children hostage late into the night. The children were confined to the basement of the house. “It (the crisis) started at about 5.45pm on January 30 and continued for about eight hours,” Uttar Pradesh director general of police OP Singh said. At a news briefing at 1.20am on Friday, additional chief secretary (home) Awanish Awasthi said: “The accused was killed and there were about 23 children who were rescued safely.” According to doctors at Farrukhabad’s Lohia Hospital, where she was admitted, Ruby suffered severe head injury in the attack by the mob. She was later referred to the Saifai Medical Institute after her condition deteriorated, but died at around 6am on Friday before she could reach there. Mohit Agarwal, IG of Kanpur Range, said the cause of death will be clear after a postmortem examination.The police said they recovered a country-made gun, a rifle, about two dozen cartridges and two dozen country-made bombs from Subhash’s house. The IG said this indicated that he could have kept the children hostage for days, and perhaps planned to blow up the house.

THE POLICE SAID BATHAM, WHO WAS OUT ON BAIL, DEMANDED THE WITHDRAWAL

OF A MURDER CASE AGAINST HIM