Amethi: A Dalit man was abducted and set on fire allegedly by upper caste men in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi after he refused to give them money from the village development fund, the police said on Friday. The victim, identified as Arjun Kumar Kori, suffered severe burn injuries and died while being shifted from the Sultanpur district hospital to a Lucknow hospital on Friday, Amethi superintendent of police Dinesh Singh said.

The victim’s family lodged a complaint against five people, of which three have been arrested. Kori (45) was married to Bhadoiya village head Chhotka Devi. His son Surendra Kumar told reporters that Kori had gone to a market to purchase vegetables on Thursday evening but did not return home. Later, he was found with serious burns at a property belonging to one Krishna Kumar Tiwari. Surendra said his father had a strong base in the area, which had perturbed his opponents. He has been killed over electoral rivalry, news agency PTI quoted Kumar as saying.

The victim’s son claimed that his father had taken names of four people, who stuffed a piece of cloth into his mouth and set him on fire after beating him up. On the complaint of the family against five people, an FIR was registered. Three of the accused, including Krishna Kumar Tiwari, have been arrested while the hunt is on to nab the remaining two, District Magistrate Arun Kumar and SP Dinesh Singh said in a joint press conference here.

Additional director general of Lucknow zone SN Sabat said police have been deployed in the village to avert any untoward incident.

If You Like This Story, Support NYOOOZ

NYOOOZ SUPPORTER

₹ 10 - ₹ 1000

NYOOOZ FRIEND

₹ 2000 - ₹ 5000

Your support to NYOOOZ will help us to continue create and publish news for and from smaller cities, which also need equal voice as much as citizens living in bigger cities have through mainstream media organizations.