Luckhnow, September 06, 2022 (PPI-OT):Upper-caste Hindus brutally killed a Dalit man Manoj Kumar, for not giving Rs 10 lakh interest on Rs 1 lakh lone in the Manipuri district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

The 33-year-old Dalit man Manoj Kumar was missing for the last two days. His dead body was found near his village, Bajera, in the district. He had been shot in the head and his face was crushed beyond recognition.

Manoj Kumar’s family told the media that he had borrowed Rs 1 lakh from a local upper-caste Hindu last year through a mediator. Recently, the lender demanded Rs 11 lakh in return, including Rs 10 lakh as interest, as per the Indian media.

“My husband was shot multiple times in the head. His face was crushed. The lender, along with his three other associates, murdered him,” Kumar’s wife Puja said. The upper-caste Hindu man was pressuring Kumar to part with his agricultural land in return. Kumar was abducted and murdered following a dispute over it as he said he couldn’t give up his land, all that he had, newspaper Times of India reported.

“Upper caste men from the village want to grab our land. The life of my entire family is in danger. We have to leave the village,” Kumar’s brother Satish said. He also said that another brother of theirs was murdered by upper-caste Hindus similarly in 2015.

“My husband was under a great deal of stress as a few people from the upper caste community were trying to grab our land. He got a call at around 8:30 pm on Thursday evening and went out. He told me he’ll be back in a bit. When he didn’t return till late at night, we started searching for him. On Friday morning, we filed a complaint against four people who had been threatening to kill him. Police delayed in taking action. Later, his body was found in a maize field nearby our village,” the newspaper quoted Kumar’s wife Puja as saying.

The upper-caste Hindus involved in the killing of Majoj were identified as Shivendra Singh alias Monu Thakur, Vishnu Thakur, Atul Thakur, and Sudeep Kumar. An FIR was registered at the Bewar police station against the four men under various sections of Indian Penal Code and Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. All four of them are residents of Bajera village and are absconding.

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