Trooper held for killing villagers in Uttar Pradesh

LUCKNOW - A trooper of the paramilitary Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) has been arrested on charges of killing two villagers during a clash in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur district, police said Wednesday.

Sher Singh was arrested late Tuesday after investigations revealed that the Trikolia villagers were killed by the bullets he had fired from his service rifle.

“It has been established the jawan (Sher Singh) had fired on the villagers with his INSAS rifle that has been seized,” Deputy Superintendent of Police Vivek Chandra told reporters.

Sher Singh and 10 other SSB troopers, including Deputy Commandant Manjit Singh, were Tuesday booked for killing the villagers in Lakhimpur, about 200 km from here.

The dispute started after some troopers in a vehicle tried to overtake a Bolero jeep carrying village residents Monday afternoon. The SSB vehicle could not overtake the Bolero and followed it till it stopped at Trikolia village. The verbal duel that followed snowballed into a clash that saw troopers open fire, killing two men and injuring two.

“Our enquiry is still on and it has come to the fore that the SSB personnel over-reacted to a trivial dispute. More SSB troopers could be arrested later,” Chandra said.