Amethi killings: Dalit man reaches Rae Bareli with bodies, speaks to Rahul on phone

Rae Bareli: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday spoke on the phone to the man whose son, daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters were shot dead by an unknown assailant in nearby Amethi.

Ram Gopal, aged about 60, arrived in Sudamapuri village in the Unchahar area of Rae Bareli with the bodies of his family members, who were killed in their rented home Thursday evening.

Amethi MP Kishori Lal, who came to Rae Bareli at Gandhi's behest, arranged the phone call, which lasted about three minutes according to visuals.

Sunil Kumar, 35, a government school teacher, his 32-year-old wife Poonam, and the couple's two daughters, Drishti and Suni, were shot dead in the Ahorwa Bhawani area of Amethi.

The brazen wipeout of the Dalit family has drawn widespread denunciation of the state government.

"The way my son has gone, they (killers) should go the same way," Ram Gopal told reporters earlier in the day in Amethi.

Sharma said he had been in touch with Ram Gopal since yesterday.

"I have spoken to the DM of Amethi and asked him to probe the case from all angles. Let the police investigation get completed," he said.

"The government keeps patting its back, claiming good law and order, but if that is the case, why such incidents are happening?" he asked.

Sharma, a first-time MP, said it was Rae Bareli MP Rahul Gandhi who had asked him to go to his constituency.

"I spoke to Rahul ji and apprised him about the incident and the situation. He asked me to reach the village. The incident happened in my constituency and the victims were natives of Rahul ji's parliamentary constituency. Both constituencies are associated with the Gandhi family. He directed me to come here and I am here," Sharma told reporters.

In the wake of the incident, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath paid his condolences, while the opposition launched a sharp attack against the BJP dispensation over the law and order in the state.

An initial police probe revealed that Poonam had lodged a police complaint against Chandan Verma in Rae Bareli on August 18 under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and for harassment.

"If anything happens to me or my family, Verma should be held responsible for it," she had written in the complaint, Amethi Superintendent of Police Anoop Kumar Singh said Thursday.

It was yet to be determined if the two cases are related, he also said.