Meerut: The Uttar Pradesh police on Saturday shot one of the men accused of raping and killing a Class 10 student in western UP’s Meerut. The altercation took place when the accused was trying to escape police custody while they were being taken to court. The accused identified as Lakhan and his aide Vikas were arrested earlier in the day. As per the reports, Lakhan was shot in his leg and is undergoing treatment at a private hospital.

Notably, the class 10 student was allegedly abducted and gangraped by four men (two others are still absconding ) while on her way back from a tuition class. Her relatives, however, have also alleged that the girl was forced to consume a poisonous substance. The girl belonging to a village under the Sardhana Kotwali area died in the hospital during the treatment.

Speaking to PTI, Meerut’s Rural Superintendent of Police Keshav Kumar said four youths were involved in abducting and raping the girl and the police, on the basis of a suicide note left by the girl, have arrested two of the accused and have launched a manhunt to nab two others.

In her suicide note, the girl had named four men, including Lakhan and Vikas from a neighbouring village, besides two others.

Following the girl’s death, a political row has also erupted in the state with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav launching a scathing attack on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. In a tweet, the former CM took dig at  Yogi Adityanath and advised him to ‘spend more time in his own state than campaigning for the BJP in others’.

“News of the kidnapping, gangrape and poisoning of a student in Uttar Pradesh’s Sardhana (Meerut) is extremely sad… If the star campaigner gets some free time… please consider this too. A lot of women have been tortured…,” the SP leader tweeted in Hindi.