The UP district of Badaun on Tuesday was in the throes of tensions after two Hindu children were brutally hacked to death by Sajid. A third child also suffered severe injuries on the neck and was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. Sajid, who was gunned down in an encounter with the police later, was accompanied by his brother Javed.
Hours after the horrifying incident, OpIndia spoke to the locals, including a man who was a teacher to the deceased and lived in the vicinity of the place where the murder took place.
Mr Dineshkumar Sharma, a teacher by profession, spoke to us about the two deceased children, how they fared in academics and extracurriculars, and the unfortunate fate that befell them on Tuesday, March 19.
Both kids were very bright students. They both studied in the RSS-affiliated school. They were innocent and belonged to a cultured background. Recently, the older child participated in Luv-Kush play in school.
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“For over 5 years I have been teaching in our school. They were brilliant academically. They also participated in extracurricular activities. Recently, they had participated in the Luv-Kush play at our school,” Mr Sharma recounted.
By all accounts, the children had a bright future ahead of them if it were not for the savagery of Sajid and Javed, who operated a salon a stone’s throw away from the victim’s home. A local asserted that the two children were killed through a well-thought-out conspiracy, citing the sharp-edged weapon Sajid had brought with him.
At around 7 PM on Tuesday, Sajid arrived outside their house on a bike with his brother Javed, the FIR in the case reveals. After that, Sajid went inside their house and requested a loan of Rs 5,000 from the mother of the deceased children. With acquaintance between Sajid, Javed, and the mother of the children long established, she agreed to lend them the amount and went inside to get the cash. Meanwhile, Sajid sent the third son, Piyush Pratap, outside to fetch gutka.
After a while, Sajid told Sangita that he was not feeling well and wanted to go to the terrace to breathe fresh air. Sajid called Javed inside and took his sons with him to the rooftop. The FIR mentions that when Sangita, the victims’ mother, came with the money, she saw Sajid and Javed coming down the stairs with a blood-stained knife in Sajid’s hand.
Describing last evening’s incident, Mr Sharma says he learned about the spine-chilling murders of the two children while returning from the neighbourhood temple after concluding the aarti.
“I heard wails of people while returning from the temple along with my children. When I came here, I learned what had happened. Nobody in the locality could imagine such an incident would take place here,” he said.
On being asked if he knew about the motivation for the murders, Mr Sharma said, no one knows why these two men killed the children with such brutality. “There was no animosity between them. The children’s mother was willing to loan an amount to them, and yet they killed them. This a Hindu-majority area, there was no issue at all. Everyone is shocked about the incident,” he added.
“These people are not worth trusting. They cannot be relied upon. A family trusted them and they ended up killing two of their children. They paid the price for trusting beyond reason,” said Mr Sharma, calling the perpetrators “demons” who deserve to be killed.
Soon after killing the children, Sajid and Javed took advantage of the ensuing commotion and escaped from the place. He was, however, pursued by the police and subsequently neutralised after he fired at the law enforcement officials. Javed, on the other hand, is still on the run. As per case details, after being shot at by the police, Sajid said, “Aye Khuda aaj bacha le (Oh Khuda [Allah], save me today)”, and then fell to the ground.
Police recovered one country-made 315-bore pistol, 4 spent cartridges of 315 bore and 4 live cartridges of 315 bore during an encounter on the 19th of March. Moreover, another accused has been arrested under Section 307 IPC and the 3/25/27 Arms Act.
“It is good that one of them was killed in an encounter. That’s how you treat such people. These devils who are against society, are like mad dogs, and just like people kill mad dogs, these people should be tied upside down and killed,” Mr Sharma said.
