Representative image of a police officer.
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Lucknow: In a shocking incident, two children, both brothers, were hacked to death by a barber in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun town, about 300 kilometres from here, triggering communal tension in the region.
The accused, identified as Sajid, who ran a barber shop very close to the house of the deceased children was gunned down in an encounter with the police a few hours after the incident, which happened on Tuesday evening.
According to the police sources, Sajid, who was close to the family and operated a salon nearby, came to the house of the victims on Tuesday evening and asked for Rs five thousand as loan from the mother of the children. The mother gave him the money, police said, adding that after getting the money, Sajid went to the roof of the house with two children aged 13 and six and allegedly hacked them to death using a knife. The third child, who went to the roof with a glass of water for Sajid, witnessed the incident.
Sajid also tried to kill the third child but the latter managed to escape by pushing him. Sajid later fled from the spot, the police said.
A police team, which had launched a search for Sajid and other accused, intercepted Sajid in a nearby forest. Police said that on being asked to surrender, Sajid opened fire on the police team and was killed in retaliatory firing by the cops in self-defense. A police inspector was also injured in the encounter and was admitted to the hospital.
Initial reports said that Sajid's brother Javed was also involved in the incident but sources said that Sajid alone had perpetrated the crime. District police chief Alok Priyadarashi, however, said that the mother of the victims, in her complaint, named both Sajid and Javed as accused.
The incident triggered communal tension in the area as the victims hailed from a different community. A mob later torched the salon and created ruckus before the local police station demanding arrest of the other two accused persons. The mob also damaged some roadside shops near the police outpost.
The motive behind the killings was yet to be ascertained.
The father and uncle of the accused Sajid and Javed were arrested. Tension prevailed in the area and security personnel in strength had been deployed to maintain law and order, police said, adding that the situation was under control. A massive search was launched to nab the other two accused, they said.
The incident also triggered a war of words between the BJP and Samajwadi Party with the latter alleging that it reflected collapse of the law and order machinery in the state.