Farrukhabad hostage crisis ends as captor is shot dead
23 children rescued, angry crowd lynches suspect’s life
THE POLICE SAID BATHAM, WHO WAS OUT ON BAIL, DEMANDED THE WITHDRAWAL OF A MURDER CASE AGAINST HIM
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 six-month-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.
Harveer Singh, the head of Karthia village, said: “We are still finding it hard to believe what happened. Although we all knew about Batham’s criminal background and we socially boycotted him for the same reason, we could never imagine that he could commit such a crime. The act has maligned the name of our village.”
In a tweet, Union home minister Amit Shah congratulated the Uttar Pradesh Police and chief minister Yogi Adityanath. “It is laudable to get all the children held hostage in Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh safely rescued through the efficient strategy and planning by the police,” he said.
Adityanath earlier called a meeting of the state’s crisis management committee and monitored the situation from capital Lucknow, about 200 km away, an official said. The CM announced an award of ~10 lakh for the police team that carried out the rescue operation.
With inputs from agencies