Farrukhabad hostage crisis resolved after 11 hours; all children rescued safely, hostage taker killed

According to reports, the accused had invited the children to his house on the pretext of his daughter's birthday and held them hostage.

IANS photo

The hostage situation in Uttar Pradesh's Farrukhabad has been resolved after the accused was killed in an encounter by the police. As many 23 children who were being held as hostage inside the accused's house have been rescued safely. The operation lasted for more than 11 hours. 

The incident happened at Karthia village of Mohammadabad town in Farrukhabad.

According to reports, the accused Subhash Batham, a murder accused out on bail, had invited the children to his house on the pretext of his daughter's birthday and held them hostage.

It is not clear if made any demands but he fired several times at the police and villagers, injuring two policemen and a few locals. He even lobbed a low-intensity hand grenade when people tried to enter his house to rescue the children.

His wife too sustained injuries in the encounter and she has been admitted to a hospital, confirmed ADG (Law & Order) PV Ramashastry.

Sharing more details, Ramashastry said, ''The man had been sentenced to life imprisonment in a murder case and he was out on a bail. He had called the children on the pretext of a birthday party and held them hostage. He opened fire on the villagers. DM, SSP and police force are present near his house.''

Senior officials of the UP Police were present at the site, UP ATS was also deployed in Farrukhabad, state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had conducted an emergency meeting with senior UP officials in Lucknow and had instructed that the children be rescued at the earliest.