2 held for 'murder' of Jal Nigam's assistant engineer after police encounter in Uttar Pradesh

Sultanpur, August 18

An assistant engineer of the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam and his aide were arrested, after an encounter, on Sunday in connection to the alleged murder of an executive engineer of the department here, officials said. Ad hoc assistant engineer Amit Kumar and his aide Pradeep were shot in the legs during the encounter, the police said.

The duo opened fire as a police team surrounded them and were injured in retaliatory firing, said Additional Superintendent of Police Arun Chandra.

The police said the accused from Bihar had been hospitalised. They were trying to flee after allegedly killing Santosh Kumar (40 over a dispute, said the police official.

In his complaint, the brother of the deceased claimed that Santosh was planning on blacklisting a firm that was working under the Jal Jeevan Mission. This decision had irked Amit, who then decided to kill Santosh.

The post-mortem report of the deceased confirmed that he was smothered to death, the police officials confirmed. Santosh was killed at his rented house in the Vinobapuri area here on Saturday, said the police.

The victim’s driver, Sandeep, said he had gone to the market and on returning he saw the engineer being attacked by some men, who also asked him to flee.

Guards at the Jal Nigam office, located 50 metres away, rushed to the house after they heard Sandeep scream. They took Santosh to the district hospital, where he was declared dead, the police said.