Under attack from the opposition — including a sit-in by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra — for not taking cognisance of the murder of 10 tribals in the Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday visited the homes of the victims and scaled up the compensation to Rs 18 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and Rs. 2.5 lakh to the injured. The state had previously ordered ex-gratia compensation of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 50,000 respectively.

However, the chief minister blamed the Congress for committing the 'original sin' that eventually led to the land dispute turning into a shootout. "It is a very big conspiracy whose foundations were laid in 1955 by the then-Congress government when this infertile land was transferred to a trust created by a Congress Rajya Sabha MP. In 1989 again, a Congress government in UP transferred the land to individual members of the trust," said the CM.

Adityanath said that he has set up a high-level committee to unveil the conspiracy and bring out the truth in this and other such cases.

Moreover, targeting Priyanka, who was earlier detained by the UP police while trying to meet the families of the killed, Adityanath said, "Those who were responsible for the deaths are shedding crocodile tears today."

The chief minister also claimed that the main accused — village pradhan Yagya Dutt — was an active member of the Samajwadi Party while another close relative who participated in the carnage is from BSP. While SP has denied the charge, the other parties are yet to rebut the charges.

None of the accused would be spared, he said, adding that the police has already arrested 24 people under various sections of the IPC.

Furthermore, the chief minister advised the families of the people killed to send their children to anganwadis and promised that within a year, they and the other homeless tribals would be benefitted with homes with built-in toilets under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna.