Youth who killed woman & her 4 kids shot in encounter, say police

Lucknow: Aamir Ahmad (20), said to be the prime accused in the murder of a woman, Gaasiya Khaaton (35), and her four children, was killed in an encounter with Ambedkarnagar police Monday morning. Police said that Aamir was trying to flee towards Nepal when a team challenged him. He was on bail in a separate murder case and killed Khatoon and her kids over a property dispute, they added.

The case saw shifting police versions over the weekend. After the children’s bodies were found on Saturday, police initially claimed the mother had killed them and fled, issuing her photographs in the adjoining districts to seek information.

About 24 hours later, her body was recovered and police said she had died by suicide, citing the absence of injury marks.

Superintendent of Police, Ambedkar Nagar, Prachi Singh said fresh leads emerged from mobile phone data, CCTV footage, local inputs, and preliminary forensic findings, hinting presence of a male member on the spot of crime of four children.

She said Aamir Ahmad, who lived about 400 metres from the victim’s house, was allegedly pressuring Gaasiya Khaaton to marry him with the intention of taking over her property. “When she refused, he allegedly murdered her first and then her four children,” Singh said.

According to the SP, locals had overheard an argument when Aamir had visited the woman a day before the children’s bodies were found, and surveillance corroborated his presence.

The SP said he was again seen at the house on the day of murder and later spotted riding a motorcycle, while the crime scene also indicated the presence of a male.

Police said Aamir went missing after the incident and a team was formed on Sunday evening to trace him. Acting on specific inputs, he was intercepted around 5 am near the Nevteria bypass under Akbarpur Kotwali limits.

Police said the team signalled him to stop when he was seen on a motorcycle, but he allegedly tried to turn back, skidded, and opened fire. In retaliatory firing, he sustained a bullet injury to the chest and died on the spot.

During the exchange, SOG in-charge Vinod Yadav was saved by his bulletproof jacket after it was hit by a bullet, police said. A sub-inspector and a constable were injured and sent for treatment.

A motorcycle, a country-made pistol and empty cartridges were recovered from the spot, police said. Aamir was named in four cases, including murder and rape.

To recall, on May 2, bodies of Shafeeq (14), Saud (12), Umar (10), and Sadia (8)— living with their mother, Gaasiya Khatoon were recovered in a two-storey house in Meeranpur locality of the district. Their father, Niyaz (42), working in Saudi Arabia for the past four years had not returned home during this period.

Family sources had stated that Niyaz had married a Pakistani woman three years ago. Gausiya had also travelled to Saudi Arabia about a year ago. On the fateful day, on a call by neighbours, police had reached the spot and broken open the door and found the bodies of all four children lying on a bed in a ground-floor room, while their mother was missing from the scene.
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