House of NCSC chief’s niece set on fire, accused held
AGRA: In an apparent attack to kill family members of National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) chairman Ram Shankar Katheria’s niece, a man torched her entire house in the wee hours of Thursday.
The Sikandra police registered a case and arrested the accused, Sanjay Sharma alias Kalu, who was identified on the basis of CCTV footage. He was seen pouring petrol and then putting the house on fire in Sector 11 of Awas Vikas Colony. The incident occurred around 1.30 am under the Sikandra police station. Brought up by the NCSC chief, Uma Katheria, 23, was married to Kamal Verma in 2015 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had attended the marriage.
AGRA: In an apparent attack to kill family members of National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) chairman Ram Shankar Katheria’s niece, a man torched her entire house in the wee hours of Thursday.
The Sikandra police registered a case and arrested the accused, Sanjay Sharma alias Kalu, who was identified on the basis of CCTV footage. He was seen pouring petrol and then putting the house on fire in Sector 11 of Awas Vikas Colony. The incident occurred around 1.30 am under the Sikandra police station.
Brought up by the NCSC chief, Uma Katheria, 23, was married to Kamal Verma in 2015 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had attended the marriage.
Uma had been residing in the house with her husband Kamal, father-in-law Baijnath Singh Katheria, 65, mother-in-law Pushpa Devi, 55 and eight-monthold son.
“As the fire spread to the drawing room, I took my family to the terrace. In the process, my son Parth (8 months), mother Pushpa Devi, wife Uma sustained burn injuries and were shifted to Ram Raghu Hospital in the city with the help of neighbours,” stated Kamal Verma who raised the alarm after the incident and lodged an FIR. “I saw that the car and motorcycle parked in the porch were on fire,” he added.
SC Commission chairman Ram Shankar Katheria, additional director general (Agra Zone) Ajay Anand, district magistrate NG Ravi Kumar reached the spot and inspected it.
“My niece’s house was burnt and the police are investigating the case,” stated Ram Shankar Katheria. “The accused has been identified as Sanjay Sharma and arrested,” stated Amit Pathak, SSP, Agra. “He had been asking for money from Kamal, but when denied, he resorted to burning the house,” he added.