5 members of a family brutally killed, house set ablaze

Prayagraj (UP): Five members of a family were killed with sharp-edged weapons in Khevrajpur village in the district, police said on Saturday.

It has also been reported that the house was set on fire after the crime. The incident has sent shock waves among the locals as cases of mass murder have been reported earlier in the district as well.

While the Samajwadi Party attacked the Yogi Adityanath dispensation saying that Uttar Pradesh is "immersed in crime", BSP chief Mayawati demanded a thorough probe into the incident.

Tharwai police station received information around 5.30 am that four-five people have been spotted dead in a house and on reaching there, police found the head of the house, Rajkumar (55), his daughter Manisha (25), his wife Kusum (50), his daughter-in-law Savita (30), and granddaughter Mitakshi (2) dead, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ajay Kumar said.

The incident happened on Friday night when Rajkumar's son Sunil was not in the house. He had gone to attend a wedding.

The SSP said that prime facie it appears that the deceased were hit with a stick or some blunt weapon and there are injury marks also on the head.

How the killings took place and other details will be known only after the post-mortem of the bodies, the SSP said, adding it will be videographed so that no evidence is left out.

It was also found that there was a fire in the bedroom of the house which was extinguished by the fire brigade, he said.

The family members have reached here and talks are being held with them.

A case has been lodged at the Gangapar Tharwai police station area and seven teams have been formed to look into the whole matter, the SSP said. A dog squad and forensic team have reached the spot and the evidence is being collected after inspecting the spot, police said.

Reacting on the incident, SP president Akhilesh Yadav said: "Under the BJP 2.0, UP immersed in crime. Today's testimonial," and attached the news report of the killing.

BSP president Mayawati said: "The news of the brutal murder of five members of a family in Prayagraj is very sad, condemnable and worrying. The government should go to the bottom of the incident and ensure that strict legal action is taken against the culprits."

Earlier, on April 15, in Khagalpur village of Nawabganj police station area of Gangapar area here, four members of a family were murdered with sharp weapons and the head of the family was found hanging.