Chandan Verma was injured in police firing on Saturday. He is accused of killing four members of a family in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi.
Chandan Verma, accused of murdering four of a family in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi on October 3, was shot and injured in his leg by a team of police on Saturday morning. Chandan was admitted to a hospital where he is undergoing treatment.
In a statement, the police said Chandan was arrested on October 4. He snatched a police weapon and fired on the police team in an attempt to escape arrest. Chandan was injured in a retaliatory police shootout, they said.
The incident happened when he was being taken for the recovery of the murder weapon, police said.
“While being escorted to recover the weapon used in the murder, Chandan Verma snatched Sub-Inspector Madan Kumar’s pistol and attempted to attack the police team. In response, the officials fired, injuring him in the leg. Verma has been admitted to Gauriganj District Hospital for treatment following the incident,” said Harendra Kumar, additional superintendent of Police, Amethi.
Sunil Kumar, 35, a government school teacher, his 32-year-old wife Poonam, and the couple’s two daughters, Drishti and Lado, were shot dead in the Ahorwa Bhawani area of Amethi.
On Friday, the police addressed a press conference and revealed that the incident was the fallout of an illicit relationship between Chandan and Poonam, wife of Sunil Kumar.
“The accused had been in an affair with the deceased’s wife, Poonam Bharti, for a year and a half. During the incident, the accused kept firing at anyone who came in front of him and even attempted suicide, but the bullet missed. He was unable to fire again out of fear and fled the scene. He had entered the house from the front and escaped from the back. This was his first time visiting the woman’s home,” Amethi Superintendent of Police Anoop Kumar Singh said.
“The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) arrested Chandan near Jewar toll plaza. Verma travelled through different routes, including Prayagraj, before being caught. Five teams were formed to crack the case,” Singh said.
Besides, the police also decoded Chandan’s WhatsApp status, which mentioned that “5 people are going to die”, and stated that the number five was nothing but Chandan’s plan to kill all four family members and then die by suicide.
An initial police probe had revealed that Poonam had lodged a police complaint against Chandan in Rae Bareli on August 18 under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and for harassment.
“If anything happens to me or my family, Verma should be held responsible for it,” she had written in the complaint, Anoop Kumar Singh told news agency PTI on Thursday.
POLICE CRACKED THE AMETHI CASE WITH THE HELP OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Senior police officials described the Amethi murder case as a challenging investigation since the clues were scarce, but the Facebook profiles of the victim’s wife, Poonam, and the accused, Chandan Verma, provided a breakthrough.
Both had each other’s photos on their profiles, confirming their affair. The STF locked the profiles to prevent tampering. Initially, the police suspected robbery, but later, their love affair was revealed as the motive behind the murder.
A senior cop said that Chandan, who had poor relations with his neighbours in Rae Bareli’s Matiha village, frequently quarrelled at home. On the day of the crime, he travelled alone from Rae Bareli to Amethi on a two-wheeler, stopping to visit Ahorva Bhavani Dham before reaching the teacher’s home.
Armed with a gun, Chandan shot everyone who came in front of him, killing four people including the teacher, his wife and their two young daughters.
OPPOSITION SLAMS UP GOVERNMENT
The brazen wipeout of the Dalit family has drawn widespread denunciation of the state government.
In the wake of the incident, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath condoled the loss of lives. At the same time, the Opposition launched a sharp attack against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dispensation over the law and order in the state.
