Deoria: Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav meets family members of people killed in a property dispute, at Fatehpur village in Deoria district.
Credit: PTI Photo
Deoria/Gorakhpur/Prayagraj (UP): A son of Premchand Yadav, who was killed along with four others of his family over a land dispute in Deoria, refused to meet SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday.
Yadav visited Deoria's Fatehpur village, where six persons were killed, to meet the bereaved families, but the elder son of one of the victims from the Brahmin family refused to meet him alleging that during his regime his mentally challenged uncle was coerced into signing a property deal to the Yadav family without receiving any money.
The Samajwadi Party president however asked the government to help both the families in getting justice.
On October 2, former district panchayat member Premchand Yadav, 50, was attacked with sharp-edged weapons and killed by his rival Satyaprakash Dubey and his family when he went to his house. In retaliation the same day, Yadav's supporters attacked Dubey's house and brutally killed Dubey and four of his family members, including children.
Satyaprakash Dubey's elder son Devesh Dubey Monday wrote a letter to District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police of Deoria in which he refused to meet Akhilesh Yadav.
In the letter, he alleged that when Yadav was chief minister in 2014, his uncle was coerced into signing a property deed without receiving any money.
He said his family was prevented from building a house on the land at gunpoint. Dubey also said that Yadav's visit has boosted the morale of people of his caste and he fears being killed in an attack.
Devesh Dubey's younger brother, who was injured in the clash and was admitted to a Gorakhpur hospital, has recovered and returned home.
Akhilesh Yadav led the Uttar Pradesh government from 2012-17.
Meanwhile, the Allahabad High Court Monday stayed the Deoria district administration's order for demolition of the house of Prem Chand Yadav.
On October 11, Deoria Tehsildar had ordered the demolition of Yadav's house.
His father Ram Bhawan Yadav had approached the HC against the demolition.
When asked about Dubey's son refusing to meet him, the SP president said, 'I came to know that the family does not want to meet. This is their feeling. It could also be that the son might not be feeling this way and some leaders might be telling him not to meet. But, we have come here to share the sorrow of all who have suffered.' 'I will provide financial assistance to this family (Premchand Yadav). If that family (Dubey family) asks for it, we will help it too,' the SP chief added.
A large number of party workers and leaders thronged Deoria's Rudrapur road ahead of Yadav's visit, necessitating the deployment of police for crowd control.
After reaching the village, Yadav first went to the house of Dubey family, but finding no one there, paid tributes to the pictures of the deceased from outside the house.
Yadav later met Premchand Yadav's wife and children and offered them his condolences and assured them of all help.
'I think the definition of a Yogi is one who considers the suffering of others as his own. The Chief Minister should not discriminate against anyone. There must be balance in justice,' Yadav told reporters, referring to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
'Political advantage should not be taken from any incident. If this government had started doing justice from day one, perhaps this incident would not have happened,' he said.
When asked about reports that the district administration was preparing to bulldoze Premchand Yadav's house, Yadav said, 'This is the culture... Bulldozers do not have brains. If bulldozers start giving justice then the next government which comes to power will also do the same thing.' He said he accepts the statement of the District Magistrate that the murder of Satya Prakash and four other members of his family happened in retaliation and that one incident led to another.
'Both incidents were wrong. If Premchand Yadav was not killed, then innocent people would not have lost their lives,' he said.
Yadav hit out at the state government alleging it was concealing facts from how the events transpired on October 2. 'Why does the government want to hide the fact that Premchand Yadav was called to Dubey's house and killed?' he asked The SP leader also referred to the recent murder of a Sultanpur doctor, a Brahmin, to call into question the policy of the Adityanath government towards victims of such crimes.
'Was a Brahmin doctor not killed with a drill machine in Sultanpur? Did you hug their families and children? Were their family members taken to the hospital? Did you get those pictures taken for social media?' said Yadav, referring to state ministers meeting the members of Dubey family after the incident.
SP leader and former minister Brahma Shankar Tripathi, who was part of the SP chief's delegation, said 'The incident is tragic and it should be investigated by the CBI. There should be no bulldozer politics in this.'