Two more persons wanted for allegedly shooting dead a 50-year-old man in Hathras whose daughter was sexually harassed by the main accused, who is still free, were arrested, police said on Wednesday.
Rohitash Sharma and Nikhil Sharma had a reward of ₹25,000 each on them following the incident on March 1 in the Sasni area of the west Uttar Pradesh district.
Four persons were named in the FIR. While three — one Lalit Sharma was arrested soon after the murder — are in police custody, Gaurav Sharma, the main accused is yet to be arrested.
While the BJP has linked Gaurav Sharma to the Samajwadi Party, the latter had also shared pictures of the accused along with a BJP MP on social media to hit back.
The victim was allegedly shot by Gaurav Sharma and his friends after a fresh altercation over the 2018 sexual harassment case filed by the former against the latter.
In June 2018, the victim had lodged an FIR against Gaurav Sharma on charges of “chedkhani” (molestation or harassment, said Hathras Superintendent of Police Vineet Jaiswal. In July that year, Gaurav was sent to jail and was released on bail after a month, the officer added.
Following the police complaint, there was continued bad blood between the two families, said police.
On Monday, when Gaurav Sharma’s wife and maternal aunt had gone to a temple in the village for puja they got into an altercation with both the daughters of the victim, who were already present there, over the previous sexual harassment incident, said the SP.
Gaurav Sharma and the victim soon reached the spot and there was heated argument between the two, Mr. Jaiswal said.
Enraged, Gaurav Sharma called some boys belonging to his family to the spot and fired at the victim, said the police.
