Husband of outgoing village head shot dead in UP's Azamgarh

Azamgarh (UP): The husband of an outgoing village head was shot dead by some motorcycle-borne assailants here, prompting tension in the area with people refusing to hand over the body to the police, officials said on Tuesday.

Manish Rai, husband of outgoing gram pradhan of Amoda, Archana Rai, was sitting at a brick kiln on Monday night when the assailants shot him and fled, the police said.

Rai was rushed to the Lalganj Community Health Centre and referred to a Varanasi hospital from there, but he succumbed to injuries on the way, they said.

Superintendent of Police Sudhir Kumar Singh said an uncle of the deceased was murdered a few years ago.

All the angles in the case are being looked into, and police teams have been constituted to arrest of the culprits, he said.

The incident led to tension in the area and the locals refused to hand over the body to the police for a long time. Police officials later managed to bring the situation under control and the body was sent for autopsy.

Police personnel have been deployed in the village, the officials said.