CCTV shows gunman dragging teacher upstairs before shooting her dead in Kheri school
Meerut: CCTV footage from a private school in Lakhimpur Kheri has revealed that a gunman held a 26-year-old teacher at gunpoint and dragged her by the hand towards the first floor as students and staff watched helplessly, moments before shooting her dead on Monday. Police said Saud Ansari, 28, a resident of Naurangabad, entered Children’s Academy in Shahpura Kothi, opposite Collectorate, around 11.30am carrying two country-made pistols in a bag and confronted Nishat Fatima, 26, before forcing her upstairs.
Post-mortem later found four gunshot wounds on the teacher, while police said the attacker subsequently shot himself dead inside the campus. Ansari had posted a farewell message on Instagram shortly before the attack, asking people to forgive him if he had hurt them “knowingly or unknowingly” and requesting that his photographs and messages be deleted after his death. They added that an argument followed, during which Ansari allegedly handed Fatima one of the pistols and challenged her to shoot him first. When she did not fire, he pulled out the second weapon and shot her repeatedly before turning the gun on himself. Gunshots sent children into a panic as staff rushed towards the first-floor corridor, but both had died by the time they reached them. Police evacuated the school and sent students home with their parents, while forensic teams examined the corridor and recovered the country-made pistols, spent cartridges and other evidence. Police are examining the post and other digital evidence while probing whether prior acquaintance, family dispute or one-sided obsession led to the killing.
Investigators are now studying CCTV footage from inside and around the campus to establish how Ansari entered with firearms and reconstruct his movements before the shooting.