20 Children, woman held hostage by murder accused at his house in UP

Mangalore Today News Network

Lucknow, Jan 30, 2020: A murder accused who is out on bail is holding his wife, his one-year-old daughter and over 20 children hostage in his house at a village in West Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukhabad district. Police are currently negotiating with the man  identified as Subhash Batham to rescue them, NDTV reported.

 

The hostage situation has been going on for over five hours now.

According to police, the murder accused invited some children from the village to his house on the pretext of celebrating his daughter’s birthday. However, once they were inside, he held everybody  including his own wife and daughter at gunpoint.

When their children did not return after a while, some of his neighbours knocked at his door. They were forced to retreat and alert the police when Subhash Batham began shooting at them.

Police said that when they rushed a PCR van to his house, Subhash Batham began shooting at it from the terrace. He even threw a crude bomb at them. Commandos of the Anti-Terrorism Squad and a police team led by the Kanpur Zone Inspector General were subsequently deployed at the spot.

Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police OP Singh told reporters that the police were treading with caution to ensure that the hostages are not harmed. "A special team of trained personnel is at the spot, and we have kept commandos on standby. Our priority is to ensure the safety of the children and rescue them at the earliest. It is a difficult situation and all senior police officers are at the spot. We want to rescue the children without any collateral damage. Local legislator Nagendra Singh is also trying to talk to the man," news agency IANS quoted him as saying.


Subhash Batham, who police claim could be mentally disturbed, was also heard hollering that he was innocent of the crime he has been accused of.

PV Ramasastry, the officer in-charge of law and order in Uttar Pradesh, also expressed the hope that the situation will be resolved soon. "Our force is there, and we are talking to the man. I am hopeful that we will be able to rescue the kids soon. We have our strategies, but we cannot disclose everything to the media. I can only say that the children are safe and will remain safe," he said.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has called a high-level meeting to find a resolution to the issue.