The National Security Act has been invoked against those accused of killing a man in Hathras, in retaliation for a police complaint he had filed against his daughter’s harasser.
Senior superintendent of police, Agra, told the media on Tuesday, “At around 4.15pm on Monday, police received news from village Naujarpur that falls under Sasani police station in Hathras that some people had shot a man. Police reached the crime scene at once and found in a potato field outside the village the dead body of Amrish Sharma, aged around 50 years. Gaurav Sharma alias Golu, a resident of village Songara, had, with his accomplices, killed the man over a dispute that was two-and-a-half to three years old. The police acted immediately. Four teams were formed to conduct searches in different areas. One of the four named accused was arrested in the night. The others will be arrested soon. Police have provided security to the aggrieved family”.
The arrested accused has been identified as Lalit Sharma.
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The deceased’s daughter said her father had filed a police complaint against the main accused, Gaurav Sharma, on July 16, 2018, for harassing her. Sharma was arrested, but granted bail.
On Monday, the wife and aunt of the accused were visiting a temple in the village. Two daughters of the deceased were also present at the temple, and an argument about the incident ensued. Amrish Sharma, who was supervising digging of potatoes in the nearby field, and Gaurav Sharma tried to end the argument, but instead got into a fight. A few hours later, an enraged Gaurav Sharma returned with his accomplices and shot Amrish Sharma. The deceased's daughter and wife, who had come to give him lunch, were present in the field when the crime took place.
The girl, who was harassed by Gaurav Sharma, said, “Why did he have to shoot my father in the head? If he just wanted to hurt him, why not shoot him elsewhere so that he would at least live?” She further said on Monday too Gaurav Sharma had made objectionable remarks against her, which had enraged her father leading to the argument between the men. The parties had gone their own ways after the initial argument, but three hours later Gaurav Sharma came back with his accomplices.
Gaurav Sharma is a Samajwadi Party member and photos of him with senior party leaders have been doing the rounds on social media. There is also a poster that has surfaced, with the face of party president Akhilesh Yadav and the party’s slogan for the 2022 Vidhan Sabha polls “22 mein bicycle” (bicycle in 2022) written across it, with the face of the accused at the bottom left corner, followed by a line that describes him as “SP neta, 72 Barauli Vidhan Sabha”. Barauli is one of the five Vidhan Sabha constituencies that go into making the Aligarh parliamentary seat.
When questioned about his party's connection with the accused, Yadav shunned the reporter saying, “Phir bik gaye ho tum” (you are sold out). Earlier, Yadav had tweeted, “Bahut hua mahilaon par atyachar, abki baar BJP bahar” (Enough of harassment of women, this time BJP out).
