The wife of the Uttar Pradesh man who held 23 children hostage at a birthday party has died of injuries after she was beaten and attacked with stones by neighbours. The man, Subhash Batham, had been shot dead by the police last night after a 10-hour standoff at a village in Farrukhabad.After Subhash Batham, a murder accused out on bail, was killed and the children brought out of his house by the police, his wife was caught by locals and assaulted. Bricks and stones were thrown at her. She reportedly suffered injuries all over and was taken to hospital in a critical state.
All 23 children are safe. One of the children, a one-year-old infant, was released late on Thursday night, much before the man was killed.
It is not known yet whether the wife was in on Batham's plan. The police suspect she was.
An accused in a 2001 murder, he was described as an aggressive and crass man prone to violence.
On Thursday, he invited some children from the village to his house on the pretext of celebrating his one-year-old daughter's birthday.
When the children were all inside, Batham bolted the doors and held everybody at gunpoint.
When their children did not return for some time, neighbours knocked at his door and realized something was wrong.
When Batham began shooting at them, they frantically dialed the police. When the police arrived, he fired at them too and threw a crude bomb.
Commandos of the Anti-Terrorism Squad and a police team also arrived at the spot.
Hours of negotiation on phone calls did not work and Batham refused to free the children. The police suspect he was drunk throughout the encounter.
Finally, after midnight, a police team decided to attack him and stormed the house.
Batham, who police claim could also be mentally disturbed, was heard shouting that he was innocent of the crime he had been accused of.
He was shot dead. As villagers, including the parents of the children held captive, saw his wife trying to run away, they started throwing stones and bricks at her and thrashed her. The police had to take her to safety and admit her in hospital. She died early this morning.
"She had head injuries and was bleeding when she was taken to hospital. She had tried to run," said senior police officer Mohit Agarwal.