A murder accused in Rae Bareli has claimed he went to the police three times complaining that his wife was being harassed by the man he later allegedly killed, only to be told by cops to “kill him” if he was being troubled.
He also asks his wife to bring the complaint copy from home. He rejected the allegations against the police. “The dispute escalated, with Surendra and Soni allegedly assaulting Ramakant. He later died of his injuries,” police added.
On the complaint of his father, police registered an FIR at Bachhrawan police station under Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Section 3(5) of the BNS, relating to acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention, was subsequently added.
Surendra, son of Sri Ram, allegedly killed Ramakant, son of village head Ganesh Prasad, with the help of his wife Soni and brother Virendra after an altercation, according to police. In the over-one-minute purported video, Surendra is heard saying, “Call the lawyer, I have killed him,” before claiming he had submitted three complaints at the police station and that police allegedly told him to kill Ramakant. SHO Shyam Kr Pal told HT that Surendra had approached police in June and the matter was resolved between the two sides. The alleged police inaction claim, however, will need to be established through complaint records and the police response rather than the accused’s statement alone, a senior police official said.
Bachhrawan police arrested all three on Sunday. Ramakant, a resident of Chhatiya village under Harchandpur police station, had gone to Khairhani on Saturday morning, where he got into an argument with Soni and Surendra over an earlier love affair, according to the police statement. Police teams collected electronic and ground evidence during the investigation and arrested Surendra, Virendra and Soni on Sunday.
The case involves a long-standing personal dispute. She alleged that Ramakant continued to contact and visit her after her second marriage. Soni had earlier been married to Amit in 2010 and has two children from that marriage, according to her account. She divorced Amit in 2017 and subsequently married Surendra.
