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NEW DELHI, Oct. 17 (Xinhua): A local leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was shot dead in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, police said today.
The BJP leader identified as Dayashankar Gupta was killed Friday night in the Firozabad district, about 285 km west of the city of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh.
“We were told last night that three motorcyclists shot Dayashankar Gupta here. Although he was taken to hospital, he succumbed on the way,” said a police officer.
“He was attacked after he was walking through a market after closing his store.”
Police have detained three people in connection with the murder, apparently over allegations made by Gupta’s family.
“We are investigating the case and the detainees are being questioned,” the police official said.
Local media reports said Gupta has become the victim of political enmity.
Also in August, a BJP leader was shot and killed near his home in the Baghpat district of the state.
Meanwhile, India’s Covid-19 count reached 7,432,680 and the death toll at 112,998 on Saturday, as 62,212 new cases and 837 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours across the country, according to the latest data published by the federal Ministry of Health.
There are currently 795,087 active cases in the country, while 6,524,595 people have been successfully cured and discharged.
This is the first time that the number of active Covid-19 cases has fallen below the 800,000 mark since the pandemic peaked in India.
The focus of the Indian government has been to increase Covid-19 testing facilities across the country.
As of Friday night, a total of 93,254,017 tests for Covid-19 had been conducted, of which 999,090 tests were conducted on Friday alone, according to data from the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).
Two days ago movie theaters, theaters and swimming pools reopened in the country after almost seven months, amid strict Covid-19 restrictions such as social distancing and regular sanitation campaigns.
India’s Covid-19 chart has been sliding down in recent days, as new cases have fallen below 70,000 per day. – Xinhua
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