Kanpur Dehat (UP): Bodies of Pramila Dixit and her daughter Neha, the two women who died in a fire during an anti-encroachment drive here two days ago, were cremated Wednesday at the Valmiki Ghat in Bithoor amidst tight security.
Kanpur commissioner Raj Shekhar and senior police officials of the district were present at the cremation.
The bodies had reached Madauli village late Tuesday night after the post-mortem.
Monday evening, 45-year-old Pramila Dixit and her 20-year-old daughter Neha died in the fire during the anti-encroachment drive in Rura area of Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur Dehat district.
While the police said the two women set themselves on fire, their family claimed it was the cops who set their hut ablaze when the women were inside, which resulted in the deaths.
The incident took place in the Madauli village, where the police, district administration and revenue officials had gone to remove encroachments from a “gram samaj” or government land, a police official said.
The villagers said that the officials arrived with a bulldozer and they were not given any prior notice.
“They started the fire while people were still inside. We were just about able to escape. They broke our temple. Nobody did anything, not even the district magistrate. Everybody ran, nobody could save my mother,” said Shivam Dixit.
Rura Station House Officer (SHO) Dinesh Gautam and Pramila’s husband, Gendan Lal, also sustained burn injuries while trying to save the women, a police officer said.
Superintendent of Police (SP) BBGTS Murthy, meanwhile, said, “The woman and her daughter locked themselves inside the hut and set it on fire which resulted in their death. We will investigate and if there is any wrongdoing, we will not spare the guilty.”
He said, “Whenever there is an anti-encroachment drive, a video is shot. We have asked for the video and will investigate it.”
Meanwhile, tension prevails in the village and incidents of stone pelting at the police have also been reported.
The villagers are demanding an FIR against the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Maitha) Gyaneshwar Prasad, Lekhpal Singh and others for the alleged murder.
Additional Director General of Police (Kanpur zone) Alok Singh, along with Divisional Commissioner Raj Shekhar, visited the village to pacify the crowd and assured action against guilty persons.
–IANS
