Funeral of Dalit school teacher, wife, daughters who were shot dead held in Raebareli

Raebareli (UP): The bodies of the Dalit school teacher and his wife, who were shot dead along with their two daughters in Amethi, were consigned to flames on Saturday at Gola Ganga Ghat in Raebareli, while the minor daughters were buried.

Chandan Verma killed the four victims on Thursday after his alleged relationship with the teacher's wife ended. He was arrested on Friday.

The four bodies reached the village on Friday morning and people from nearby villages who had gathered there raised slogans. The grieving family members initially refused to perform the last rites and police were deployed in heavy numbers to maintain order.

Police administration tried to convince the family members several times to cremate the bodies on Friday, but they did not agree.

They agreed to conduct the last rites after Sonu, the brother of the teacher, reached the village late at night.

On Saturday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath met the family members of the victims in Lucknow.

“Today, at the official residence in Lucknow, in presence of honourable MLA of Unchahar, Manoj Pandey ji, I met the victim families of the unfortunate incident that took place in Amethi. The UP government stands with the bereaved family with full sympathy and commitment," he said in a post on X in Hindi.

"Be assured, the victims will definitely get justice and the strictest action will be taken against the culprits,” the chief minister added.

Former UP minister Swami Prasad Maurya also spoke to the family members at Gola Ganga Ghat.

Bahujan Samaj Party's UP unit chief Vishwanath Pal, who was also present for the cremation, said that if the police had taken action on time, then the situation could have been prevented.

'Jungle raj' is prevailing under this government, he said.

Sunil Kumar (35) a government school teacher, his 32-year-old wife Poonam, and their two daughters, Drishti and Suni, were shot dead in the Ahorwa Bhawani area of Amethi on Thursday.

During the initial investigation, police found that Poonam had lodged an FIR against Verma, the accused, in Raebareli on August 18 for eve-teasing, and under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

The complainant had also mentioned that "if anything happens to her or her family", Verma should be held responsible for it.

Early morning on Saturday, police shot 27-year-old Chandan Verma, who was arrested the previous day, while they were trying to recover the pistol he allegedly used in the killing on Thursday. He is currently receiving treatment for bullet injuries to his leg.

Verma told police that he reached the victims’ house on Thursday, got enraged over a discussion there and shot the family members.

Verma, a Raebareli resident, confessed to killing all four of them. He said he had an affair with Poonam for the last 18 months, police said, adding that some after the relationship turned sour, he got stressed, which led to the killings.

He also said that he tried to kill himself but the pistol misfired, police added.

Singh said Verma had fired 10 shots from a pistol.

Referring to a social media post by Verma in which he foretold the death of five people, the SP said, "He intended to shoot himself after killing the four family members. He was the fifth person but his suicide attempt failed." On Saturday, while the police were trying to recover the pistol from a canal, Verma allegedly snatched Sub-Inspector Madan Kumar Singh's gun from his holster and fired at him intending to kill him, police in a statement said.

Acting in defence, Inspector Sachchidanand Rai fired a gunshot which hit Verma in his right leg, they said. Police said Verma was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Amethi's Chief Medical Officer Dr Anshuman Singh said Verma was later referred to the district hospital from the community health centre in Tiloi.

"He had sustained bullet injuries on his right leg. He is out of danger," the CMO said.