Wife of murder-accused, who held 23 children hostage in UP's Farrukhabad, dies after suffering fatal injuries during confrontation with mob, police

The wife of an armed convict, who had taken 23 children hostage in Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukhabad, has died in the course of the confrontation during hostage negotiations, news agency ANI reported. She was admitted to a local hospital in critical condition after shots were fired between the police and the hostage-taker. Reports also claimed that the woman was beaten up by the locals, although it is not clear what caused her the fatal injuries: A PTI report said she got hurt in cross-firing, while ANI reported that she died after an angry mob thrashed her. The man’s wife died on Thursday night while trying to escape but was thrashed by the locals on the spot, IG Kanpur Mohit Agarwal told PTI. He said she was rushed to a hospital as she was bleeding from a wound on her head but she succumbed to injuries. Agarwal said the exact cause of her death would be known after post-mortem Twenty-three children aged between six months and 15 years, had been taken hostage by the man — who was already in jail facing murder charges — after he invited them to his home on the pretext of throwing a birthday party for his daughter. All children were safely rescued late on Thursday night after police killed their captor. The accused had been identified as Subhash Batham. The hostage drama began at Kasaria village in the afternoon and continued for about eight hours. “The accused was killed and there were about 23 children who were rescued safely,” Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi told reporters at a hurriedly called press conference at 1.20 am.

Farrukhabad Police: More than 15 children, and a few women, have been held hostage at a house by a man. Incident of firing has also taken place. Operation to rescue them is underway. Senior police officers are present at the spot. https://t.co/SFoEdEuq7g pic.twitter.com/PkPALZ4Z4Y

— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) January 30, 2020

“The accused had invited the children for the birthday party of his daughter and held them hostage. It started about 5.45 pm on 30 January and continued for about eight hours,” Director General of Police (DGP) OP Singh said, adding that in the entire operation they had tried to “engage” the accused and were successful. He also said Batham had initially released a six-month-old girl by handing her over to his neighbour from a balcony. According to BBC News, the birthday party Batham had invited people for was fake and was arranged by him to hold the children, including his wife and one-year-old daughter as hostages.   [caption id=“attachment_7980271” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Rescue ops underway in Farrukhabad where a man has taken over 20 children hostage. ANI[/caption] Eyewitnesses said a restive crowd gathered outside the house where the children were kept with some women wailing and praying for their safe release. The crowd broke open the door of the house to rescue the children, they said. As the accused opened fire, the police retaliated killing him on the spot. In the exchange of fire, the captor’s wife was injured, but none of the children suffered any injury. A man and two policemen also suffered bullet injuries. The motive of the accused was not known immediately. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath monitored the situation in Farrukhabad, which is nearly 200 km from state capital Lucknow. “The chief minister as soon as he got to know about the incident called a meeting of the crisis management group and personally monitored the situation and ensured children are rescued safely,” Awasthi said. Earlier, a team of NSG (National Security Guard) commandos had taken a special aircraft to reach Farukhabad, a senior security official in Delhi said. Police said Batham, a murder accused, seemed to be mentally unstable. According to  India Today, Batham had earlier sent a letter to the local district magistrate, complaining about the lack of toilet facilities in his house, and saying he had been denied government housing. He said he was a labourer and had an ailing mother who had to defecate in the open. Inspector-General of Police, Kanpur Range, Mohit Agarwal, said, “The man called the children for a birthday party and held them hostage in the basement of the house. He fired six shots from inside the building.” Batham initially wanted to talk to the local MLA, but refused to speak to the leader when he arrived, Agarwal said.