A 57-year-old principal of a government school was shot dead, and a woman teacher was injured after three motorcycle-borne assailants allegedly tried to snatch his gold chain, police said on Wednesday (September 17, 2025).

The incident occurred on Tuesday (September 16) when Devendra Yadav was returning home on a motorcycle, accompanied by assistant teacher Kanchan Singh, after attending a school cluster meeting at a government school in Deoria district.

When the duo reached near Sahunpur village, the assailants intercepted them, snatched Yadav’s gold chain and opened fire when he resisted.

Both were rushed to the community health centre in Siar from where Yadav was referred to Ballia, then to Mau, and finally to the trauma centre in Varanasi. He succumbed to injuries on the way to Varanasi late Tuesday (September 16) evening, police said.

Superintendent of Police Omveer Singh said an FIR is being registered.

Four police teams have been formed to probe the incident and efforts are on to trace those involved in the incident using surveillance, CCTV footage and manual intelligence inputs.