By S Raju
Upper caste villagers allegedly shot dead a 17-year-old Dalit boy at Domkhera in Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha district on Saturday night following an argument over puja at a village temple, the teenager’s family said even as police maintained a dispute over money led to the murder.
The teenager’s father said that his son and nephew had gone to the village temple on May 31, where one Horam Chauhan and his aides stopped them from offering puja. He added his son argued with them and later filed a police complaint on June 1. The father accused the police of inaction, claiming they did not act on his son’s complaint. He added on Saturday when his son was sleeping outside their house, Chauhan came with his aides and shot him dead.
Three people, including Chauhan, have been arrested and raids were being conducted to arrest the other named accused, police said.
Amroha police superintendent Vipin Tada insisted the dispute over money was the reason behind the killing. He said the boy’s brother and Chauhan had taken a mango orchard on contract and they parted ways after the dispute over money. “There was a brief fight over it a few days ago,” added Tada.
Police said a case has been registered under the Indian Penal Code’s Section 302 (murder) and under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against Horam Chauhan, Lala Chauhan, Jaiveer and Roshan. Horam Chauhan and Lala Chauhan were arrested on Sunday.
Tada said that one Deepak, who was arrested on Monday, allegedly supplied the murder weapon to Horam Chauhan and the two killed the boy while he was sleeping under a tree.