Priyanka Gandhi visits Prayagraj family where four were found dead; slams police inaction

Visiting the deceased Prayagraj labourer family, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday, claimed that UP police was unwilling to help them. With four members murdered, Vadra claimed that the remaining members were all women who felt unsafe in their homes. Phoolchand (45), 40-yr-old wife and their minor son and daughter were found dead in Prayagraj on Thursday.

Priyanka Vadra: 'Police unhelpful'

"The family is in terror. All of them are women, the male member works in Jharkhand. They don't know what will they do alone, somebody can come and torment them. Police didn't help them," said Vadra.

Pointing out police's incompetence, she added, "Two Police personnel were removed from here yesterday. The women tell me that when they used to go to complain, the Policemen used to mock at them. How can the administration be silent?"

Family of four found dead in Prayagraj

On Thursday, Sarvashresth Tripathi, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Prayagraj informed, "Deceased Phoolchand (45), wife, their minor daughter and son belonging from one family were found dead here. The deceased family had filed an SC/ST case against some people of the village itself. This controversy escalated."

He added, "Primary investigation suggests that they were attacked with sharp-edged weapons.  The bodies were recovered from their house in Mohanganj Gohri village. The bodies have been sent for autopsy & all angles are under investigation".

The victims' family have accused the police of failing to act on previous such complaints filed by them. Axes were discovered near their bodies, and it appears that they were only hit by those axes, the source added. Prayagraj recently witnessed the death of Akhada Parishad chief Mahant Narendra Giri which was initially ruled as a suicide, but later escalated to the alleged murder. The CBI has arrested the seer's disciple Anand Giri and others in connection to it. The 403-seat UP assembly where Yogi rules with an iron-clad majority of 314 seats, is up for battle in February 2022.

UP polls 2022

With BJP fighting under the leadership of incumbent CM Yogi Adityanath, several fronts have cropped up to challenge the ruling BJP. SP chief Akhilesh Singh Yadav has stated that SP will only ally with smaller political parties for the 2022 Assembly polls, holding talks with Mahan Dal, NCP, SBSP. Mayawati has already announced that her party will fight polls alone in UP and Uttarakhand, while allying only with Akali Dal in Punjab. Congress has aggressively campaigned under the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi in the state, eyeing its solo return.