Wife of UP kidnapper beaten to death by locals after police kill him
Twenty-three children aged between six months and 15 years, who had been taken hostage by a murder accused at Kasaria village in Farrukhabad, after inviting them to his daughter’s birthday party, were rescued late on Thursday (January 30) night after police killed the captor in a village here.
The wife of the man, who held hostage 23 children and was killed by police in a rescue operation, died after being thrashed by locals on Friday (January 31), ANI reported.
Confirming the report, Mohit Agarwal, IG Kanpur Range said, “The woman has succumbed to injuries, we are waiting for the post mortem report. Further details on the cause of death will come out after we get it.”
Twenty-three children aged between six months and 15 years, who had been taken hostage by Subhash Chandra Batham, a murder accused at Kasaria village in Farrukhabad, after inviting them to his daughter’s birthday party, were rescued late on Thursday night after police killed the captor in a village here.
The children were held hostage for more than eight hours by Subhash, who according to police, had four criminal cases pending against him including a murder case.
“The accused was killed and there were about 23 children who were rescued safely,” Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi told reporters at a press conference at 1.20 am.
“The accused had invited the children for the birthday party of his daughter and held them hostage. It started about 5.45 pm on January 30 and continued for about eight hours,” Director General of Police (DGP) O P Singh said, adding that in the entire operation they had tried to “engage” the accused and were successful.
He said the accused had initially released a six-month-old girl by handing her over to his neighbour from a balcony.
Accused Subhash Batham fired from inside the house on those who tried to speak to him, police said, adding that a man and two policemen suffered a bullet injury.
Although the motive of the accused was not known, he was stated to be a confused state of mind and asking for a conversation with the local MLA as a condition to release his hostages. But he later changed his mind and asked for a word with the local parliamentarian.
He also sent a letter to police in which he alleged that he did not get a house under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (PMAY) neither a toilet under the central scheme.
Although National Security Guard (NSG) commandoes were called in to help release the children after a high-level meeting of senior police officials with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, police seeing an opportune moment decided to break in before the commandoes reached. The operation was led by Inspector General of Police Mohit Aggarwal.
Adityanath monitored the situation in Farrukhabad, which is nearly 200 km from state capital Lucknow.
“The CM as soon as he got to know about the incident called a meeting of crisis management group and personally monitored the situation and ensured children are rescued safely,” Awasthi said.
Police said Batham, a murder accused, seemed to be mentally unstable. Inspector General of Police, Kanpur Range, Mohit Agarwal, said, “The man called the children for a birthday party and held them hostage in the basement of the house. He fired six shots from inside the building.” He said Batham fired on those who attempted to speak to him. Batham wanted to talk to the local MLA, but he refused to speak to the leader when he arrived, Agarwal said.
(With inputs from agencies)
