UP: Mother, daughter killed in fire during anti-encroachment drive in Kanpur

A 44yearold woman and her daughter were killed after a fire broke out during an antiencroachment drive at Marauli village of Kanpur Dehat region the police said on TuesdayThe deceased have been identified as Pramila Dixit 44 and her daughter Neha Dixit 22The victims family alleged that officials engaged in carrying the drive set the house on fire when the motherdaughter duo were insideBased on the allegations a case has been registered against over a dozen people including sub divisional magistrate SDM station officer SO and LekhpalAccording to information the incident took place in the Marauli village on Monday afternoon during a demolition action by a team of district administration against illegal encroachmentThe family members protested against the demolition drive and allegedly threatened to set themselves on fire to stop the removal actionThis led to a scuffle between family members and officials and during the ruckus a fire broke out and the entire house was guttedThere were four people inside the house at the time when the fire broke out the exact cause of which was not clearTwo of them were killed while others sustained burn injuries officials saidAlso Read MP Cop removed from field duty after BJP MLA accuses of misbehaviourThough the exact reason behind the fire was not clear the victim family accused officials and antisocial elements of the area of deliberately setting their house on fireAshok Dixit Anil Dixit and other accused along with SDM SHO and Lekhpal set the house on fire My mother and sister were killed in the fire only I and my father were able to come out Every officer is involved in this Shivam Dixit the victims son allegedKanpur Police in an official note said that on the basis of the complaint by the victims family a case has been registered against more than 12 people including SDM SO and LekhpalFour locals identified as Ashok Dixit Anil Dixit Nirmal Dixit and Vishal Dixit have also been named in the FIRThere was a complaint lodged against Vishal Dixit one of the accused named in the FIR that he was trying to encroach upon the land belonging to village community In connection with this the administrative team reached the area to remove encroachment where the incident occured the police saidBased on the complaint of Shivam Dixit victims son a case under IPC sections 302 307 429 436 323 and 34 has been registered against the accusedADG Kanpur Zone Alok Singh told the media An official team had gone for the encroachment drive when the unfortunate incident took place We have started investigating the matterKanpur Commissioner Raj Shekhar said We have initiated a probe by taking the victim family into confidence We are trying to find out the exact sequence of events Strict action will be taken against the accused and no one will be sparedFurther investigation in the case is underway he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever