Lawyer shot dead in Allahabad

A lawyer was shot dead in broad daylight here on Thursday, triggering protests and violence by his colleagues, police said.

The lawyer, Rajesh Srivastava, was going to the court when he was intercepted by unidentified bike-borne assailants near the Manmohan Park in Allahabad and was shot at. He died on the spot.

Angered over the killing of their colleague, lawyers went on the rampage, brick batting with the police, vandalising government property and setting afire a car and a bus.

The murder happened when the Director General of Police (DGP) O.P. Singh and Chief Secretary Rajeev Kumar were on a day-long visit to the city.

Additional police forces and Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel have been deployed to prevent an escalation of violence, an official told IANS.

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav took to Twitter to express his dismay at the killing. He tweeted that law and order under the watch of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had touched a new low in the state.

"The BJP government has made blood flow all across the state, people are afraid and feeling suffocated... they want to get rid of this government" he said.

There has been no arrest after the killing, and the lawyers were squatting on the road along with the body of the deceased lawyer.

Only two days back a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, considered close to Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, was shot dead.

The 35-year-old Pawan Kesari was a BJP corporator.

--IANS

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