Social activist found dead a day before 'dharna'

A day before embarking on a sit-in to protest against illegal construction in Uttar Pradesh's Gonda town, about 200 kilometres from here, a young social activist was found dead under mysterious circumstances.

While the police said that road mishap was the cause of death, the family members cried foul and termed it a murder and demanded a probe into the same.

According to the police sources Pradeep Katyayan, a resident of Kanchanpur village in Gonda district, was found lying in a pool of blood near Thadwaria village in the district early on Tuesday morning. He was rushed to the hospital but was declared brought dead.

Sources said Katyayan had been very vocal against the illegal constructions in the Gonda town and also along the highways and had submitted numerous memorandums to the district authorities in this regard.

Sources also said that Katyayan was scheduled to embark on a 'dharna' against an under construction hotel and some other alleged illegal constructions from Wednesday.

Police said that Pradeep might have been a victim of a road mishap. ''We have sent his body for postmortem examination... we will start investigation after the report is out,'' said a senior police official in Gonda.

Katyayan's wife Puja said that her husband had been on the target of the mafia groups and that he must have been murdered and his body dumped on the road. Puja demanded a thorough probe into the ''killing''.