2 held for murder of sexual assault survivor’s father

A reward of ₹1 lakh has been declared on the main accused Gaurav Sharma

RAJEEV KRISHNA,

Two more accused in the Hathras murder case were arrested on Wednesday, hours after the Uttar Pradesh police announced a cash reward for providing information on the accused.

Confirming the development, Hathras superintendent of police Vineet Jaiswal said, “Two of the accused Rohtash Sharma and Nikhil Sharma were arrested on Wednesday after reward was declared of ₹25,000 on each.”

Earlier in the day, Agra zone additional director general of police Rajeev Krishna announced a cash reward of ₹1 lakh for information on the mail accused. “A reward of ₹1 lakh has been declared on the main accused Gaurav Sharma, who is absconding after killing 50-yearold Amreesh Sharma at Nojarpur village under the Sasni police station limits of Hathras district,” the ADG said.

Amreesh Sharma was shot dead in Hathras district by accused against whom the deceased lodged a police case in July 2018 for molesting his daughter, the police said on Tuesday. The accused was out on bail and was pressurizing the family of the woman to withdraw the case.

The incident happened on Monday and made headlines after a video of the 20-year-old woman pleading for justice went viral.

“Of the four accused, Lalit Sharma is in police custody,” the ADG said. Lalit was arrested on

Agra ADG

Tuesday and the police produced him in a Hathras court, which then sent him to jail.

The ADG has constituted teams of police personnel from Aligarh to assist the Hathras police. “Aligarh police are also in action to assist the Hathras police and additional teams have been constituted to nab the absconding accused. We hope that soon we would nab the culprits involved in the killing,” the ADG said.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered strict action in the case and directed officials to invoke provisions of the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against the accused.

The video of the woman invoked strong reactions from the Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav who questioned the law-and-order situation in the state.

In 2019, UP reported the most number of crimes against women, roughly one every 10 minutes, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Experts say that uneven law enforcement, feudal attitudes and lack of education contribute to the lack of safety for women.