GHAZIABAD: A day after Asad, the 19-year-old accused of fatally stabbing a minor boy in Khoda Colony, was killed in a police encounter, the district administration declared his family’s house illegal and gave them 15 days to remove the “encroachment”.
The notice, pasted on the locked house in Khoda, said the property stood on govt barren land and warned that if the family failed to clear it within the deadline, the administration would demolish it and recover the cost.
The house, officials said, is in the name of Nawab (45), Asad’s father, who was arrested on Saturday in the murder case along with Farhan (19) and Aatif (19). No family member was present when officials reached the house on Monday. The administration also made the action public through loudspeaker announcements.
Arun Dixit, SDM (Sadar), said the notice was issued under Section 136 of Uttar Pradesh Revenue Code, 2006. “The person concerned has been asked to remove the encroachment within 15 days of receiving the notice. If that is not done, the administration will remove it as per law and recover the related expenditure,” he added.
Dixit said revenue records of Khoda village showed that the house had been built on govt land. He added that a verification drive against criminals had begun in the colony and similar action would continue against other violators as well. Home to a large number of migrant and gig workers who commute to Noida, Ghaziabad and Delhi daily, Khoda is one of the country’s largest unauthorised colonies.
The SDM also said Rs 5 lakh had been sanctioned from the chief minister’s discretionary fund for the victim’s mother after her son’s death.
The murder on Bakrid had already pushed Khoda into grief, anger and tension. Police said the attack resulted from a dispute over a motorcycle ride on May 28. That afternoon, the boy was allegedly cornered in Navneet Vihar. Police alleged Farhan, a friend, handed Asad a knife and Nawab told his son to kill the boy. He was stabbed repeatedly in the abdomen near Sharma Dairy and died during treatment at a Noida hospital the next day.
The victim’s family has maintained it was a planned assault, not a sudden fight. In the complaint, the boy’s elder brother said he had been confronted, abused and repeatedly stabbed while he was with two friends. An FIR was registered against five people under BNS provisions, including murder, unlawful assembly, rioting, intentional insult, criminal intimidation and common intention.
Hours after Nawab and the two others were arrested, Asad was killed in an encounter early on Sunday. Police said he was tracked to Vasundhara after a tip-off, allegedly opened fire while trying to flee on a motorcycle, and was shot in the leg during retaliatory firing. He later died in hospital. A constable was also injured in the gunfight.
The notice was pasted outside the home of Asad
The murder triggered sharp reactions across the political spectrum.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who was in Bijnor on Monday, referred to the Khoda murder while addressing a public rally. “You have just seen what happened in Ghaziabad, stabbing under the guise of friendship. This is not acceptable,” he said.
Congress leader Husain Dalwai condemned the practice of police encounters, calling them unlawful. “Encounters are wrong. They mean the police are taking the law into their own hands and breaking the law. If someone has committed a crime, the court should decide the punishment,” he said.
Dalwai further alleged that encounters are increasingly being justified on religious grounds. “If politics is being done in the name of religion, it is suggested that if someone is Muslim, they should be encountered. This does happen. However, carrying out encounters on anyone, even if the person is a criminal or a goon, is completely wrong. They should be arrested, produced before the court, and punished according to the court’s decision,” he added.
Reacting to the incident, Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi termed the situation “extremely wrong.” “Normally, there is no firing involved except in rare cases, but this has now become a model. Criminals should be punished. If someone is a serious offender, the death penalty can be given, but there is a Constitution for this. The criminal must be arrested, the crime proved in court, and then punishment awarded. However, in Uttar Pradesh, this is being done by looking at religion,” he said.
The killing triggered protests and a heavy police deployment in Khoda, where more than 300 personnel and two PAC battalions were stationed. Markets remained largely shut, hurting daily-wage workers and small businesses for the third day on the trot.
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