A day after two persons were killed and three others injured after gunshots were fired in Uttar Pradesh's Gonda distict, the main accused involved in the case was arrested on Saturday, police said.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had taken serious note of the incident, as it took place during the ongoing lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The main accused in the double-murder case along with other accused persons have been arrested. Action is being initiated against them under the National Security Act, Superintendent of Police R K Nayyar said.
Inspector Om Prakash Chauhaun, who was posted at the police station, has been suspended with immediate effect, he said.
On Friday, two persons were killed and three others injured when gunshots were fired during a fight between two groups here.
The incident took place when some officials had gone to Paraspatti Majhwar village in Umri Begamganj area to probe into complaints of irregularities in MGNREGS payments, Tarabganj Circle Officer Mahaveer Singh said.
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During the probe, the complainants and a group of supporters of village head entered into heated argument, following which shots were fired by one of the groups, police said.
Devendra Pratap Singh (52) and Kanhaiyalal Pathak (30) were hit by bullets and died while being taken to the district hospital, they said.
Chandra Mohan Yadav (35), Vijay Kumar Singh (32) and Atul Singh (19) were seriously injured in the incident, police said.
Additional force has been deployed in the area to prevent any untoward incident, police said.
A government spokesperson had said in Lucknow on Friday that the chief minister has directed Gonda's district magistrate and superintendent of police to take stern action against the guilty and to invoke the National Security Act against them.