On Thursday (7th March), senior BJP leader from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, Pramod Yadav was shot dead by miscreants reportedly outside his house. The leader was immediately taken to the hospital where he died during treatment. An investigation has been launched.
The accused have not yet been identified and the reason behind the murder of the BJP leader has not yet been ascertained. The police have obtained the CCTV footage of the incident and are making efforts to identify and nab the accused.
The incident is said to have happened in the Bodhapur region of Junpur district. As per reports, the accused persons arrived on a bike and fired three bullets at the district unit president of BJP Kisan Morcha as a result of which he collapsed outside his residence.
The locals created chaos in the area after which the accused persons fled from the spot and left the bike. The police have recovered the bike from the spot. The victim meanwhile was immediately taken to the hospital where he died during the treatment.
Pramod Yadav contested on the BJP ticket in the 2012 assembly elections from Jaunpur’s Malhani constituency against Jagriti Singh, the ex-wife of former BSP MP and strongman Dhananjay Singh. However, both lost to SP candidate.
Notably, Dhananjay Singh, who is now with the JD(U) was planning to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Jaunpur. He had also shared a post on his X handle announcing the same.
But he along with an aide were sentenced to 7 years’ rigorous imprisonment by the Jaunpur MP/MLA court on Wednesday (6th March) in a 2020 kidnapping case of a senior official of the UP Jal Nigam.
Under the Representation of the People Act, the sentence made Dhananjay Singh ineligible to contest the election. Reports claim that Singh will move High Court against the sentencing. It is being said that if he is unable to contest, he will field his wife Shrikala Reddy, who is the District Panchayat President of Jaunpur.
In 1980, Pramod Yadav’s father, Rajbali Yadav was also murdered in a similar manner. His father was associated with the Jana Sangh and had contested on a Jana Sangh ticket from Rari constituency but had lost.