Head of family whose 4 members were killed in Amethi reacts

Ram Gopal, four members of whose family were gunned down by an assailant, on Friday said his son's killer(s) must meet the same fate.

Sunil Kumar, 35, a government schoolteacher, his 32-year-old wife Poonam, and the couple's two daughters, Drishti and Suni, aged 6 and 1, were shot dead at their rented home in Ahorwa Bhawani area here on Thursday evening.

The killer is suspected to be a man who once was accused by Poonam of harassing her.

The brazen wipeout of the Dalit family drew the attention of authorities.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath paid his condolences, while the opposition launched a sharp attack against the BJP dispensation over the law and order in the state.

An initial police probe revealed that Poonam had lodged a police complaint against Chandan Verma 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," she had written in the complaint, Amethi Superintendent of Police Anoop Kumar Singh said on Thursday.

It was yet to be determined if the two cases are related, he said.

"The way my son has gone, they (killers) should go the same way," Ram Gopal, whose son was the sole breadwinner of the family, said on Friday.

"With my son gone, I am left with no one to take care of the house," he said. "I am over 60 and have one more son, who lives separately. If he can get a job, it would be good," he urged the government.

Ram Gopal said he does not know who Chandan Verma is or if he is the one who did the killings.

"I am a Harijan and I don't know what caste he is," he told reporters outside the mortuary here.

He, however, recalled his daughter-in-law once telling him that she had lodged a police complaint against him.

"Had any action been taken, this would not have happened," Ram Gopal said.

Meanwhile, a three-member team of doctors conducted the post-mortem of the bodies in Amethi under videography.

Ram Gopal later took all four bodies to his native village, Sudamapur, in Rae Bareli's Unchahar.

Amethi police chief Anoop Kumar Singh said five police teams had been deployed to work on the case.