Woman lawyer’s death in U.P: Two more accused arrested, all six in police net now
The two arrested on Monday are Keshav Mishra and Munazir Rafi, both practising lawyers in Kasganj courts.
Two of the remaining named accused, both lawyers, were arrested by the Kasganj police on Monday in the matter of the killing of a woman lawyer who went missing from the court premises a week ago. Later, her body was found in a canal, in Kasganj, on Wednesday, last week.
The two arrested on Monday are Keshav Mishra and Munazir Rafi, both practising lawyers in Kasganj courts.
Superintendent of police, Kasganj, Aparna Rajat Kaushik, said on Monday that all six accused have now been arrested.
“All six accused named in the case registered on the complaint of the husband of the woman lawyer have been arrested. Investigation is in progress in the case registered at Kotwali Kasganj,” she said.
Four other named accused, including three lawyers, were arrested by police on Saturday and were sent to judicial custody after being presented before the court of chief judicial magistrate on Saturday.
Those arrested on Saturday included lawyers Mustafa Kamil, Asad Mustafa and Haider Mustafa. Salman, also arrested on Saturday, is a law student.
A case was registered under section 140 (1) (abduction) 103(1) (murder), 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence) of Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against six named accused, now behind bars in Kasganj.
The complainant man alleged that his wife, practising in Kasganj courts appeared worried for the last 20 to 25 days and had revealed to him that she had opposed the bail application in courts of Kasganj moved by sons of one of the accused Mustafa Kamil.
Angered over it, the accused used to threaten her on the court premises with dire consequences and she was much disturbed because of the repeated threats to her life, the man alleged.
Police is gathering information about cases in which deceased woman lawyer had appeared in the recent past because her husband had alleged that the woman lawyer was being threatened because she opposed bail applications in certain cases, including that of the accused in the case of Chandan Kumar, who died while being part of Tiranga Yatra on Republic Day, in 2018.
On September 3, when the woman lawyer did not return home till 8 pm, a complaint about her going missing was lodged at the Kotwali police station. Later, her body was recovered from Rajpura canal near Kasganj city by villagers on September 4.
The motive behind the killing remains to be established and according to the husband of the woman lawyer, the gold ‘kangan’ (bangles) and silver anklets on her body were undisturbed.
The post-mortem examination report revealed ante-mortem injuries and the viscera was preserved as no conclusion could be attained. Death because of drowning was ruled out because no water was found either in her stomach or lungs.
On Sunday, few right wing organisations closed down markets till noon, and the police remained on alert fearing a communal flare up.