A day after four persons allegedly killed a 50-year-old man who had filed a molestation case against one of them for harassing his daughter under the Sasni police station area of the district, police have arrested one of the accused Tuesday.

The alleged murder took place when the man was working in his fields and his daughter and wife came there with his lunch. Main accused Gaurav Sharma, who reportedly is a leader of the Samajwadi Party, and his three associates reached there and allegedly opened fire.

In 2018, the deceased had filed a case of molestation against Sharma who was arrested and then released on bail after a month.

“In connection with the death of the 50-year-old man, the police arrested one of the accused, Lalit Sharma. Legal action is being taken against him and the rest of the accused will be arrested soon,” said Hathras SP Vineet Jaiswal. The other two accused have been identified as Rohitash Sharma and Nikhil Sharma.

In the FIR it has been alleged by the deceased’s daughter that Monday around 3.30 pm she along with her mother took lunch for her father who was working in their potato fields.

“At the same time, village residents Gaurav Sharma, Rohitash Sharma, Nikhil Sharma and Lalit Sharma reached there in a white car with weapons. Gaurav asked us to take back the case and settle the matter. Before my father could have answered anything, they opened fire at him. He was soon rushed to the District Hospital where he was declared dead,” the woman has stated in the FIR.

Talking to The Indian Express, City area Circle Officer (CO) Ruchi Gupta said a few years ago Gaurav and the deceased’s daughter were to get married but the marriage was cancelled due to some reason.

“That allegedly made Gaurav angry and he would often try and confront the woman about that. An FIR under section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the IPC was registered against Gaurav in July 2018 and he was sent to jail. After coming out on bail last year, he got married to another woman. On Monday, Gaurav’s wife and the woman came face to face and reportedly commented on each other,” said Gupta. The officer said it is likely that the same incident led to the killing.