Balrampur: A leader of Samajwadi Party was hacked to death by unidentified assailants near his house while returning to home after election campigning. The incident took place when Firoz Ahmed (35), alias Pappu, a former chairman of Tulsipur Nagar panchayat, was returning home on Tuesday night, after campaigning for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
The assailants slit his throat, police officials said. His family rushed him to a community health centre, where doctors declared him brought dead. As soon as the news spread, a large number of his supporters and Samajwadi Party leaders, including former minister S P Yadav, reached the hospital. Yadav announced the suspension of all programmes of the Samajwadi Party on Wednesday and demanded immediate arrest of the criminals.
The district police, which has formed four teams to trace the killers, has announced a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh to anyone providing important information about it. Considering the gravity of the situation, a large number of police personnel have been deployed in the area and senior officials, including the DIG, rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation.
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Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party has constituted a five-member committee to probe the incident and send its report to party president Akhilesh Yadav. The committee led by S P Yadav will meet family members of the victim on Thursday, SP’s district unit spokesman Bahlol Niyazi said. Reportedly, Pappu was a strong contender for the party ticket from the Tulsipur assembly seat.
Balrampur SP Hemant Kutiyal said that anyone providing important clues will be given a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh and his name will also be kept secret. He said the culprits will be nabbed soon. Meanwhile, traders of Tulsipur kept their shutters down as a mark of protest.
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