Bank employee kills wife and sister before shooting himself in Lucknow

A bank employee allegedly shot dead his wife outside an ICICI Bank branch in Lucknow before killing his sister and himself. Police said marital discord was reported between the accused and his wife, while investigations and forensic examination were underway.

Lucknow: A bank employee allegedly shot dead his wife, a bank official, and his sister before shooting himself in the Gomti Nagar area here around 12:15 pm on Thursday, police said.

In a WhatsApp status posted before killing himself, the accused, Manas Mishra, alleged that he killed his wife because she had “betrayed” him.

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The incident occurred outside an ICICI Bank branch in Gomti Nagar, where the woman, identified as Divya Mishra (37), worked as a relationship manager. According to police, she was in her car when her husband, Manas, who was allegedly waiting in an autorickshaw, called her outside and shot her before fleeing the spot.

Police said the accused was reportedly experiencing marital discord with Divya.

ADCP (East) Amol Murkut, who reached the bank following the incident, said the woman had worked there for the past three or four years. “The deceased woman’s co-workers at the bank identified the attacker as her husband,” said the officer.

Police said the accused was subsequently traced to the Husaria area, where he allegedly shot his sister Sheeba Bajpai before turning the weapon on himself. Lucknow Commissioner of Police Tarun Gauba also reached the crime scene and took stock of the situation.

Police said the investigation was underway and forensic teams were examining evidence from the spots linked to the shootings. Pragya, a journalist and YouTuber, also posted on social media that the ICICI Bank employee who was shot was her sister.

“I just came to know that my sister has been shot at in Gomtinagar… May God save her,” she said in a post tagging the Lucknow police commissionerate and the Uttar Pradesh director general of police.

Before the incident, Manas wrote on WhatsApp status that he intended to kill himself and his sister, and alleged that Divya’s sister, Pragya, and her husband Bharat Yadav knew everything about the matter.

A person running a restaurant rented from the premises where Manas lived told reporters that he saw him rushing into the residence, profusely sweating, apparently after the shooting occurred near the bank. “I even asked him, ‘Bhaiya, what’s the matter? You appear stressed.’ But he told me that it was nothing, just some office issues. Then he went inside,” the restaurant owner said.

The exact sequence of events thereafter was not immediately clear, they said. PTI