Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Tuesday directed officials to book all the four accused, including Samajwadi Party leader Gaurav Songra alias Gaurav Sharma, the main accused involved in the murder of Anish Sharma (name changed), a resident of Hathras under the stringent National Security Act (NSA).
#UttarPradesh Chief Minister #YogiAdityanath directs officials to invoke the #NationalSecurityAct (#NSA) against the accused in #Hathras shoot out. Man accused of molestation, out on bail, had shot dead the father of the victim on Monday. pic.twitter.com/SYxiU0kLBC
— NEWS9 (@NEWS9TWEETS) March 2, 2021
“Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directs officials to take strict action in the matter. He has also given directions to invoke the National Security Act against all the accused involved in the case,” the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said in a statement.
Samajwadi Party leader Gaurav Saungra is one of the prime accused. He was out-on-bail in the 2018 molestation case filed by the same girl whose father he shot dead.
The Hathras police have filed an FIR in the case against six accused including the main accused SP leader Gaurav Sharma, his family members namely Rahitash Sharma, Nikhil Sharma, Lalit Sharma and two others. Police have arrested two accused, including Lalit Sharma in the case so far. They are in the lookout for the other accused, including the SP leader, who was jailed in 2018 in a sex assault case and has been out on bail ever since.
The deceased man, Anish Sharma had filed a court case against the accused Gaurav Sharma and his accomplice for constantly harassing and troubling his daughter Pooja (name changed) in 2018. Now, the complainant in the case has been killed by the Samajwadi Party leader and molestation accused Gaurav Sharma alias Gaurav Songra and his accomplice in the Naujarpur village of Sasni Police Station area of Hathras on Monday evening.
The police have said that the incident was a fallout of an argument between the family of the deceased and the accused Gaurav Sharma’s family outside a village temple at around 4:30 on Monday evening.
Sharing more details about the case, where the Samajwadi Party leader shot the middle-aged man in cold blood, Superintendent of Police, Hathras, Vineet Jaiswal said that the victim was shot dead in his Nojalpur village by the main accused Gaurav Sharma along with his friends on Monday at around 4 pm.
Jaiswal added that Anish Sharma had filed a case of molestation in July 2018 against the main accused Gaurav Sharma. After that Gaurav was arrested and sent to jail. He came out on bail after one month. Ever since there was continued bad blood between the two families.
थाना सासनी क्षेत्र के ग्राम नौजरपुर में ढाई साल पूर्व की रंजिश के चलते एक व्यक्ति को गोली मारने की घटना के सम्बन्ध में पुलिस अधीक्षक हाथरस की बाईट pic.twitter.com/pt4JMfL0pl
— HATHRAS POLICE (@hathraspolice) March 1, 2021
“The wife and the aunt of the main accused Gaurav Sharma and both daughters of deceased had gone to temple in the village. They had an argument there over the old case. Later, the main accused Gaurav Sharma and the Anish Sharma reached where their respective family members argued. As the situation turned worse, Gaurav called his family members and close friends, and in a fit of rage, fired several rounds and shot Anish dead. Anish succumbed to his injuries while being taken to hospital,” the SP added, also informing that teams have been formed to nab the remaining accused and further investigation is underway.
Yesterday, a video went viral on social media, in which Pooja (name changed) was seen crying outside the police station demanding strict action against her father’s murderers, one of whom is an influential Samajwadi Party student wing member.
Gaurav Sharma runs his social media pages with the name ‘Gaurav Songra’. On his Facebook page, the accused has put up multiple photos calling himself a “Samajwadi Party leader”.
Narrating what transpired, Pooja asserted that the main accused Gaurav Sharma is a Samajwadi Party leader. She also revealed how Gaurav Sharma and his family had pressurised them to take back the 2018 molestation case filed against the Samajwadi Party leader.
She said that on the day of the incident, at first Gaurav Sharma’s wife and aunt got into an argument with her and her sister over the old case. While Gaurav Sharma’s wife and aunt were misbehaving with Pooja, her father reached the spot. He yelled at them and drove them away. While going they threatened Pooja and her father with dire consequences.
Later at around 3:00 pm, Pooja went to the field to give food to her father when Gaurav Sharma came there with his accomplices and started heckling them. This triggered a heated exchange of words between the accused and Anish Sharma. In a fit of rage, Gaurav Sharma then shot several rounds, severely injuring her father, in front of her eyes.
“Aatankwadi hain woh” (he is a terrorist), Pooja exclaimed, expressing her angst against SP leader Gaurav Sharma for killing her father in cold blood.
Several opposition leaders including, BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla and BJP MP Subrat Pathak have condemned the brutal killing of the man by the Samajwadi Party leader and his family members and demanded strict and speedy action against them.
Note: Names of the victims have been changed to protect identity.