Ghaziabad:

A woman was on Tuesday arrested for allegedly killing her stepson and hiding his body in a sewer tank, police here said. On Monday, police received a complaint that 11-year-old Shadab had gone missing on October 15, they said.

When police checked the CCTV footage of the nearby area, they found that the boy never left his house in Govind Puri locality on Sunday evening, they said.

This raised suspicion and police thoroughly searched the house and found the minor’s body in a sewer tank, Additional Commissioner (Modi Nagar circle) Gyan Prakash Rai said.

When police questioned the victim’s family members, his stepmother Rekha confessed to killing Shabad with the help of her friend Poonam, he said.

Rekha told police that it was a premeditated murder and she committed the crime when Shabad returned home after playing outside, police said, Rekha, who is the second wife of Rahul Sen, also told the police that she disliked her stepson, they said, adding that Sen runs a saloon and had divorced his first wife three years ago.

Rekha concocted a story of her stepson’s kidnapping before her husband and in-laws, police said.

ACP Rai said Rekha and her friend Poonam who helped her kill Shabad have been sent to jail this evening.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

A lawyer was shot dead at his office in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad on Wednesday. The lawyer – Monu Chaudhary – was in his chambers, which is inside the district court complex, and eating when two men burst in and opened fire. Mr Chaudhary’s blood-covered body was found slumped in the chair.

A case was filed with the Sihani Gate Police Station and the investigation is ongoing, as part of which a forensic team gathered evidence and the body has been sent for post-mortem.

In addition, security footage from CCTV cameras installed across the court premises are being secured, Nipun Agarwal, Deputy Commissioner of Police (City), told NDTV.

Preliminary information indicates Mr Chaudhary was shot dead at 2 pm. The attackers reportedly arrived on foot and fled after committing the crime

The killing comes as legal practitioners across western UP went on a 24-hour strike today to protest the clash between lawyers and police in the state’s Hapur region. In anticipation of further clashes police had been deployed at all court and tehsil complexes in the state.

However, the fact that armed men broke through this security cordon, murdered Mr Chaudhary and then escaped has led to questions being asked of the police.

After news of the gruesome murder, scores of lawyers gathered around the crime scene and soon protests broke out as Mr Chaudhary’s colleagues demanded justice. At the time of the attack other lawyers were meeting to chalk out their strategy on the Hapur issue.

Hapur Lawyers Protest

On Tuesday the Hapur Bar Association staged a protest over an allegedly false case against a lawyer and her father. Tensions escalated as police resorted to lathi-charge against lawyers.

The Supreme Court Bar Association hit out at the police action and said advocates protesting peacefully against the alleged high-handedness of the police was a violation of their rights.

With input from PTI