Anger, fear, concern among villagers
Locals block road, demand ₹50L exgratia for the deceased’s kin
LUCKNOW: Anger, fear and safety concerns were clearly visible on the faces of locals after the daring dacoities in Munshikheda and Sarawa villages of Malihabad in the wee hours of Tuesday.
Over 2,000 villagers blocked the Lucknow-Hardoi highway, alleging police negligence and demanded ex-gratia of rs 50 lakh for the family of Shyamu Rawat, who was killed by dacoits in Sarawa village.
Traffic remained affected for over three hours as the villagers placed the deceased’s body in the middle of the road. Satish Kumar, SP (rural area), along with PK Singh, CO, Malihabad and other administrative officials had a tough time pacifying the crowd.
The blockade was removed after the SP announced immediate ex-gratia of ₹5 lakh for the deceased’s family and a house in a residential colony for underprivileged.
He also assured them of recommending ₹50 lakh ex-gratia for the deceased’s family from the chief minister’s relief fund.
Expressing lack of trust in police, some families even planned migrating to their relatives’ houses in urban areas of the city for some time.
“The safety of my family members is my prime concern. The back-to-back incidents of dacoity in last few days have made us review the decision of building a house in this locality. My parents are thinking of selling the house and settling somewhere else close
to Lucknow city,” said a local Anand, whose family stays barely 500 metres from Munshikheda village. He said thefts and robberies were reported regularly in the area but now dacoities had instilled fear among people. “Criminals are emboldened by negligence of cops who claim to crack cases of theft and robbery by arresting petty thieves. Real criminals will continue to commit crimes if police do this,” he emphasised. Sagar, a local, said there were similar dacoities in some villages of Malihabad and Kakori in winters of 2016- 2017, but the police did not learn from past incidents. He said dacoits had also struck Sarawa village twice in 2007 and 1995.
Another local said miscreants had attempted robbery in the house of one Bindra Prasad Chaurasiya in 2016, but the bid was foiled as villagers gathered after hearing the family’s screams. He said Chaurasiya was also injured in the incident.
Similarly, miscreants had attempted theft in the house of a school teacher and injured her in January 2017, he said.
Moreover, dacoits had barged into the house of one Rajkumar and held his family captive during 2013 winters, he added. One family had migrated from the locality after selling their house after miscreants targeted them in 2013, he said. Kanhaiya Lal Kannaujia, a resident of Munshikheda village, said the police patrolling in villages could avert such incidents, but cops prefer remaining on the highways and do not enter villages during winters. “It seems now we have to form a group to step up vigil in our villages,” he emphasised.
NOMADIC GANGS UNDER SCANNER
ADG of police, Lucknow Zone, Abhay Prasad and SSP, Lucknow, Deepak Kumar said the assailants’ modus operandi was identical in all the recent strikes and similar to that of nomadic gangs that often strike during ‘Krishna Paksha’ (dark nights).
He said the gang’s modus-operandi was quite similar to Banwariya and Chaymar gangs.
The back-to-back strikes suggested that the gang was camping in the region at least for past one month, he said. He said adjoining districts like Hardoi, Barabanki, Sitapur, Unnao and Rae Bareli were also alerted.