Samajwadi Party leader, son shot dead in UP's Sambhal district

Sambhal (UP), May 19 () A Samajwadi Party leader and his son were shot dead in Shamshoi village here on Tuesday following a dispute over road construction, police said.

There was a dispute over the construction of a road under the rural employment generation scheme MGNREGS in the village and Chhotelal Diwakar (50) and his son, Sunil Kumar (28), were shot dead, Superintendent of Police (SP) Yamuna Prasad said.

The incident that took place under the Bahjoi police station area in Sambhal district, the police said.

The bodies have been sent for autopsy and a case will be registered soon, the police officer said, adding that some people have been taken into custody for questioning.

Former Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav condemned the incident and said Diwakar was a dedicated party worker.

Diwakar was given the Samajwadi Party ticket from the Chandausi Vidhan Sabha seat in the 2017 assembly elections, but the seat later went to the SP's alliance partner.

Yadav accused the BJP government in the state and the police of giving shelter to the criminals.

"After the murder of our dedicated worker today, it has been a proved that police is sheltering the criminals, and members of the opposition party, specially the Samajwadi Party, are being targeted," he said. COR SAB IJT IJT