BSP leader's murder caught on camera

In a daring murder, a village pradhan and husband of a sitting district panchayat member was shot dead from a point blank range within the district collectorate in Gonda in full public view on Wednesday evening. The victim was sitting on the stage with a dozen others at a public meeting organised to observe the Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar's birth anniversary, when the incident took place.

Despite a crowd of over 500 persons, including collectorate staff and police, present at the venue, the lone assailant reportedly pumped in two bullets from behind and escaped unchallenged. A couple of policemen present in the vicinity of the scene of crime, however, reached the site well after the assailant had escaped and rushed the victim to hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Reports reaching the director general of police (DGP) headquarters said that the middle-aged victim - Hanuman Saran Shukla - a BSP leader and pradhan of Mahengipurwa village under Tarabganj police station of Gonda district, had come to attend the function being held within the collectorate compound near Ambedkar crossing. He was sitting on the stage along with his wife - a sitting member of district panchayat as other guests were addressing the gathering when two sounds of gunshots filled the air.

Though initially none could understand what had happened, a couple of seconds later Hanuman slumped on the stage floor and people around him noticed a youth carrying a handgun, fleeing the scene when it dawned upon them as to what had happened. Chaos prevailed thereafter as people in the audience tried to escape leading to a virtual stampede. Hanuman was then rushed to district hospital by two constables who arrived at the scene shortly thereafter but the effort proved futile as the doctors at the district hospital pronounced him dead upon arrival.

Though senior police officers rushed to the site immediately after the news of the sensational crime came in, there was nothing much with the police with regards to the motive for the murder or the identity of the assailant, till late on Wednesday evening. Police were however quick to announce that the slain pradhan had a criminal past. Exact details of the cases in which Hanuman was allegedly involved in, were being collected, Gonda police said.

- Indian JOurnalist