By IANS,
Lucknow : Ten people, including five children, were burnt alive Friday by supporters of a village headman murdered earlier in the day in a long-running feud between two families belonging to rival castes in Maharajganj district in the eastern-most corner of Uttar Pradesh bordering Nepal.
According to Special Director General of Police Brij Lal, the victims belonged to two Brahmin families, who had an old feud with a Thakur family over some agricultural land in Digahi village.
“It was the murder of the Thakur family head Dina Nath Singh, earlier during the day that provoked the attack by his supporters on the family of Dwarka Dube and Adya Dube,” Brij Lal told reporters here.
Even though police had promptly arrested five members of the two Dube familes in connection with the murder, supporters of Singh, who was also the local gram pradhan, surrounded the Dube home, pelted stones at it and bolted all exit points before setting it ablaze, he added.
Five members of Adya Dube’s family and five of Dwarka Dube’s who remained trapped inside the bolted house choked due to the smoke, before being burnt to ashes.
“The only Dube family members who survived were those who had already been arrested in connection with the murder and taken away to the nearest police station, about 15 km away,” Brij Lal said.
“As many as 40 people have been arrested in connection with the attack and killings, while a heavy police contingent has been deployed in Digahi village to ensure peace and calm,” he added.