BJP leader shot dead in UP's Firozabad over 'political enmity'; main accused, 2 others detained

A BJP leader, Dayashankar Gupta, was shot dead by bike-borne assailants in Uttar Pradesh’s Firozabad district on Friday evening. The police have detained three people, including the main accused Viresh Tomar, for questioning. Forty-six-year-old Gupta, who held the post of a Mandal vice-president, was shot in the Nagla Beech area when he was returning home after closing his shop. He succumbed in the hospital. The police have taken Tomar and his uncles Narendra and Devendra into custody after Gupta’s family alleged political tensions with them, NDTV reported. The report quoted locals as saying that Gupta was unhappy about Tomar’s recent joining of the party. Police officials also said that Gupta and Tomar had had “an exchange of words” on Facebook recently. “Viresh Tomar recently had a heated exchange with Dayashankar on Facebook. Viresh Tomar’s uncle had earlier contested local village body election from Ratigarhi village in Firozabad against Dayashankar, and he had won the election,” reports quoted a police officer as saying. Meanwhile, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sachindra Patel said, “Yesterday night itself, police teams were formed and Viresh Tomar and two others were detained for questioning.” After Gupta’s killing, local residents staged a road blockade in protest. Later, senior police officers arrived at the spot and a large number of security personnel were deployed. The area which falls under the Tundla Assembly constituency, where bypolls will be held on 3 November. With inputs from agencies