Kannauj: A 50-year-old woman was brutally murdered and her daughter narrowly escaped death after being held hostage by a group of armed dacoits, in a daylight robbery in the Kutlupur Makrandnagar locality of Kannauj on Monday afternoon.
According to police sources, the incident took place around 2 PM when 11 armed robbers stormed into the house of Sunita Srivastava (50) and her daughter Komal Srivastava (26).
The intruders tied up both mother and daughter—stuffing cloth in Komal’s mouth and placing a knife to her abdomen to subdue her. The gang then looted lakhs in cash and jewelry from the house.
During the robbery, the assailants strangled Sunita Srivastava to death using a rope. Komal, though partially bound and strangled, managed to free herself and escaped by leaping onto the roof of a neighbor, Seema Chaturvedi.
Seema’s daughter Megha opened the rooftop door and untied Komal, who then informed the neighbors about the gruesome crime. By the time help arrived, the dacoits had already fled the scene.
Sunita's body was found inside the house with her hands and feet still tied. The local residents rushed the mother-daughter duo to the district hospital, where doctors declared Sunita dead on arrival.
Sunita’s younger daughter, Diya Srivastava (22), who works as a cashier at the Uttar Pradesh Gramin Bank in Thathia, arrived at the hospital upon hearing the news.
Diya had secured her job under the dependent quota after her father, Arjun Srivastava, also a bank cashier, died in a road accident eight years ago.
Komal later informed police officials that the crime was allegedly planned by Jaswant Singh, a tiles contractor who had been working in their house for the past month.
She identified Jaswant and his nephew as part of the group involved, along with several others.
Jaswant is said to be living in a rented house in Tirva and belongs to another district.
He is also reportedly constructing a new house in the same locality. Senior police officials, including Superintendent of Police Vinod Kumar, ASP Ajay Kumar, City CO Abhishek Pratap Ajey, and Sadar Kotwali SHO Jitendra Pratap Singh, arrived at the scene and later met Komal at the hospital to record her statement.
CO City Abhishek Pratap Ajey stated that CCTV footage from nearby houses has captured visuals of the suspects.
SP Vinod Kumar confirmed that three special teams, SOG, Surveillance, and Sadar Kotwali, have been formed to investigate and arrest the accused.
“All efforts are being made to solve the case swiftly and bring the culprits to justice,” he said.
