UP: Did police laxity lead to Dhoomanganj triple murder?

ALLAHABAD: Three months before three persons were shot dead over a dispute involving construction of a wall between two houses in Dhoomanganj’s Chaufatka area on Sunday night, the two sparring parties had filed complaints against each other. However, the police did not take any initiative to quell the feud.
Following complaints of police action in the case, Dhoomanganj police station senior sub-inspector TB Singh and Rajruppur police outpost incharge SK Nigam were suspended on Monday for dereliction of duties.
According to police, three persons—Ravi Shankar Yadav alias Lalu (34), Ajeet Kumar (32) and Karan Bharatiya (19)—were shot dead on Sunday night by one Balwant Singh and his family members. Another local resident Azad was injured in the attack.
Police said that neighbours Lalu and Balwant had been fighting over the construction of a wall between their houses. The construction would have infringed upon a passage which separated the two houses. While Balwant wanted to go ahead with the construction, Lalu was against it.
On Sunday afternoon, Balwant, who owns a sweet shop, and Lalu had fought over the construction again. At night, Lalu, who was a vegetable vendor, was sitting outside his home with Ajeet when Balwant and his family members came and shot the two dead.
A local resident Karan Bharatiya heard the gunshots and reached the spot, when the accused thrashed and shot him. He was rushed to Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital, but later succumbed to his injuries.
A case under sections 147, 148, 149, 307,302, 504, and 506 of the Indian Penal Code, 7 CLA Act and 3 (2) 5 SC\ST Act was lodged with Dhoomanganj police station against ten named and 10 unidentified persons late Sunday night.
On Monday, Balwant Singh, his three sons—Ajeet Singh, Chandan Singh alias Anjoo, Sonal Singh alias Vikrant Singh—three women and one Manish Shukla were later arrested. The three arrested women were Balwant’s wife Kusum Lala, Chandan’s wife Manjari and Sonal’s wife Rachna.
The accused had locked themselves up in their house after the attack and it took the police more than two hours to finally arrest them.
Local residents alleged that had the local police acted earlies, the gruesome murders could have been avoided. As per reports, after Lalu and Balwant filed complaints, Dhoomanganj police also visited the spot thrice, but no action was taken.
Police also seized one 0.12 bore licensed DBBL gun, 12 live cartridges and an axe from the house of the accused.
SSP Atul Sharma said SP (trans-Yamuna) DP Chaudhary had been entrusted to complete the probe into the case within a day. “Once the probe report is submitted, we would take action against Dhomanganj police accordingly.”
Initial reports claimed that police had received information about the attack round 9.08pm on Sunday night and personnel from three police stations reached the spot at 9.13pm.
Heavy police force was deployed in Chaufatka and adjoining areas to maintain law and order. Meanwhile, Ajeet’s family blocked Dhoomanganj road when his body was brought back after postmortem examination. The family demanded government job and compensation for the kin.