Gorakhpur, September 17: The Uttar Pradesh police on Wednesday arrested three absconding accused in the murder of Deepak Gupta, a student preparing for NEET, in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh in an encounter. One of the accused has been admitted to the hospital for treatment in an injured condition, informed police.
The SSP Raj Karan Nayyar said that 19-year-old student Deepak was brutally murdered during a clash between cattle smugglers and villagers in Maugatai village of Pipraich area late last Monday night. The accused fled after throwing the body four kilometers away from the village. Pipraich and Kushinagar police, engaged in nabbing the accused in this incident, took joint action and arrested Rahim in an encounter. In addition, Chhotu and Raju have been arrested and are being interrogated. Two more accused have been identified in this case, and five teams have been deployed to search for them. A reward has also been announced for them.
The SSP stated that so far, four accused have been arrested in this case. The search for the remaining accused is underway. On Tuesday night, approximately 23 hours after the incident, the SSP suspended Jungle Dhushan outpost in-charge Jyoti Narayan Tiwari and four constables for negligence. A departmental inquiry has been initiated against the entire outpost.
Late last night, ADG Law and Order Amitabh Yash also arrived in Gorakhpur and reviewed the case. The Special Task Force (STF) has been deployed to arrest the accused.
It is noteworthy that two days ago, on Monday night at around 11:30 pm, 10 to 12 cattle smugglers arrived in the village in two pickup trucks and were attempting to break the lock of Durgesh Gupta’s furniture shop located at the village entrance. Hearing the noise, a young man sleeping in the travel office above the shop became alert and immediately informed his friend Deepak. Hearing the noise, Deepak reached the spot on his scooter.
Meanwhile, villagers also gathered there. When confronted by the villagers, the cattle smugglers started firing. Amidst the stampede, the smugglers forcibly dragged Deepak into the vehicle. After taking him some distance from the village, they threw him out of the vehicle, due to which Deepak died. After the matter came to light, the police started searching for the accused.