Fatehpur liquor shop salesman murdered in suspected robbery

FATEHPUR: A 40-year-old liquor shop salesman was beaten to death in what police suspect is a robbery, in Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh, early on Friday. The deceased, identified as Satendra Singh, was attacked with bricks and stones while sleeping outside the shop in Durgai village under the Bindki police station limits.

The incident occurred late Thursday night when the victim closed the country liquor shop and decided to sleep on a cot under a tin shed outside the premises. The shop is situated in a residential house owned by Sher Singh Gautam in Durgai village, which is located about 20 km from the district headquarters. The attack was discovered on Friday morning at around 8 am when a local chowkidar, identified as Surendra, visited the shop to purchase liquor and found Singh with severe bleeding injuries.

Following the discovery, the victim was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him dead. Preliminary investigations by the forensic team revealed that the unidentified assailants fled with the keys to the liquor shop and emptied the cash box. According to the shop's daily sales records, 90 pouches of country liquor were sold on Thursday, but the cash tally was found to be short by Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000.

Furthermore, the victim’s brother, Dheerendra Singh, alleged that the attackers also looted a large amount of cash belonging to him. Dheerendra, who runs a paddy trading business, claimed that between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh kept inside the shop were stolen by the miscreants. A blood-stained tree branch was recovered near the crime scene under a tarpaulin, which police suspect was used as one of the murder weapons alongside the bricks and stones.

This incident highlights the security vulnerabilities faced by liquor shop operators and their staff, particularly those who reside or sleep at their workplaces in rural areas. The dual motive of robbery and the targeting of a lone employee underscore the risks associated with handling cash-intensive businesses in isolated setups. The involvement of a significant cash amount from a separate paddy business complicates the investigation, suggesting the perpetrators may have had prior knowledge of the victim's routines or the cash stored on the premises.

Senior police officials, including Fatehpur Superintendent of Police Abhimanyu Mangalik, visited the crime scene to oversee the investigation and verify the sales accounts. The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination, and the police have constituted four specialized teams to track down the unidentified assailants and recover the stolen cash. Authorities have stated that all angles, including the exact amount of money stolen and the possibility of insider involvement, are being thoroughly investigated.