Smriti Irani close aide shot at in Amethi, dies

A close aide of BJP leader Smriti Irani was shot at in Amethi's Baraulia village late Saturday night.

The incident took place just days after Smriti Irani won the Lok Sabha elections from the Amethi parliamentary constituency.

Surendra Singh, former village head of Baraulia village under Jamo police station limits, was shot by unidentified assailants at his residence.

He was referred to Lucknow in a serious condition and he succumbed to his injuries during treatment, a police officer said, adding two people have been detained in connection with the incident and further investigation was underway.

Baraulia village was in news during campaigning in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, as Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had accused Smriti Irani of distributing shoes to the residents in order to insult Rahul Gandhi.

Locals claim that Surendra Singh was considered close to Irani and he was involved in the distribution of footwear.

Smriti Irani on Friday won the Amethi parliamentary seat by overtaking Congress chief Rahul Gandhi with a margin of 55,120 votes. Irani polled a total of 4,67,598 votes.

Amethi is considered a stronghold of the Congress party since years. Gandhi has been winning on the seat since 2004.

Despite the poor performance of the party in 2014 general elections at the Centre, the Congress president had defeated Irani on the seat with a margin of 1,07,903 votes.