Masked men open fire at village head's house in UP's Gorakhpur
Panic gripped in Gorakhpur's Tikaria village on Tuesday night after three motorcycle-borne masked assailants opened fire at the house of the village head. The village head, Akhilesh Singh, is lodged in Gorakhpur district jail since 2016 in a murder case and his wife Ranjana Devi stays in the house with their 12-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter, police said on Wednesday.
Three empty cartridges were recovered from the spot, they said.
According to the complaint lodged by Devi at Sahjanwa police station, around 11 pm on Tuesday, three masked men came on a motorcycle, knocked on the door of her house and opened fire.
"My husband is involved in a property dispute with three people -- Anand Kumar, Pradeep Yadav and Sujit Rawat -- and the case is in court. First, they framed my husband in a murder case and now they are frightening me to drop the property case," she alleged.
"Police reached the spot after getting the information and recovered three empty cartridges. An investigation has been launched and a case will be registered soon," Circle Officer Rahul Bhati said.
