Armed gang storms Badaun home, assaults women over non-veg meal

Meerut: A gang of armed assailants, suspected to be members of the “kachha baniyan gang”, allegedly barged into a farmer’s house in Hata locality under Islamnagar police station limits in Badaun district late Tuesday night, held the family hostage for nearly one-and-a-half hours, consumed liquor and assaulted the women after learning that non-vegetarian food had been cooked in the house.Police said five men entered farmer Nazakat’s house around 1.30am after one of them scaled the boundary wall and opened the main gate for the others.The assailants allegedly held the family at gunpoint, beat up Nazakat, his wife, daughter-in-law, and daughter, and looted around 40gm of gold jewellery, silver ornaments, and Rs 50,000 in cash.Family members told police the attackers became enraged after being told that chicken had been cooked for dinner. They allegedly abused and beat the women over the issue.“I woke up after hearing my uncle scream and saw a man beating him with a stick. When I tried to raise an alarm, they assaulted me too,” said a family member, who suffered injuries to her head and shoulder.“Later, one of them asked what we had cooked for dinner. When I said chicken, he objected to there being no vegetarian food in the house. He said they would not have beaten my uncle if he had served them vegetarian food,” she added.Bareilly range DIG Ajay Sahni said, “An FIR under BNS sections 303 (theft) and 309(6) (robbery) has been registered. Five police teams have been formed to identify and arrest the accused. We are not ruling out the involvement of someone known to the family.”