Hours after the main accused Chandan Verma was arrested in connection to the fatal killing of four of a family in Amethi, the Uttar Pradesh Police on Saturday (October 5) informed that the latter had sustained a bullet injury on his leg as he was trying to flee their custody.
Additional Superintendent of Police Harendra Kumar, speaking of the matter, said while the accused was being taken to recover the weapon used in the murder, he snatched the pistol of Sub Inspector Madan Kumar and tried attacking the team of officials, prompting them to fire on his leg. The accused has been presently admitted to Gauriganj District Hospital for the treatment.
It is pertinent to note that the accused was first apprehended by the Special Task Force on Friday near the Jewar Toll Plaza, mere 48 hours after the incident took place.
"Yesterday, four people of the same family were killed in an unfortunate incident... The main accused, Chandan Verma, has been arrested by the STF from near the Jewar Toll Plaza when he was trying to run to Delhi," SP Amethi Anup Kumar Singh, speaking to the media, informed.
He said the accused during the interrogation also confessed to killing the four and revealed the motive behind the same. The Amethi SP, added, the incident occurred in the aftermath of the fallout of an illicit relationship between accused and one of the deceased Poonam.
"The accused had a love affair with the woman for the last one and a half years. There had been some issues recently, and he was stressed due to that, so he committed the crime yesterday... He shot dead four people (husband, wife, and their two children)... The weapon is yet to be recovered...Further legal action is underway," the Amethi SP asserted.
Significantly, the top official also revealed a key detail about the accused's post, which he made days before the incident but was after the horrific act was seen as the latter's purposeful intention to kill the family.
"He intended to shoot himself after killing the family of four. He was the fifth person, but his suicide attempt failed," the SP added.
About the incident
The horrific murder of four members of a family, identified as Sunil Kumar, 35, a government school teacher, his 32-year-old wife Poonam, and the couple's two daughters, Drishti and Suni, earlier on Thursday, drew the attention of authorities, with the opposition criticizing the government's failed law and order situation in the state.
According to the information received, the deceased Poonam earlier on August 18 had also lodged a police complaint in Rae Bareli against the accused Chandan Verma only under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, for harassment. In his complaint, she has cited that 'If anything happens to me or my family, Verma should be held responsible for it'.
READ MORE | Amethi horror: Accused changed WhatsApp status days before murders, warned ‘5 people are going to die’
