LUCKNOW: Journalist and YouTuber Pragya Mishra has alleged that her sister Divya Mishra’s husband, Manas Bajpai, and his sister beat their ailing mother so severely that she died. The allegations came as she recounted years of alleged abuse Divya endured before she was shot dead in Lucknow. In a series of posts on X, Pragya alleged that Manas Bajpai was cruel towards Divya and would assault her over trivial matters. According to Pragya, Divya had once told her that Bajpai and his sister had beaten their mother so badly that she died. Divya had been living separately from Bajpai and wanted to end the marriage, Pragya said. She alleged that her sister had described her husband as a “psycho” and had told her about a confrontation with a counsellor during family court proceedings. "According to my sister. The murderer and his sister had beaten their mother so much that his own ailing mother had passed away," Pragya said in the post. Despite the alleged abuse, Divya had hoped that the marriage could still be saved, Pragya said. She was planning to observe the Teej fast and had not removed a tattoo bearing Bajpai’s name from her hand, according to her sister.
'She was still walking with a limp'
Pragya also alleged that Bajpai had stalked Divya before the shooting and that the stress had contributed to an accident a few days earlier. Divya suffered fractures to her hand and leg in the accident and returned to work after about one-and-a-half to two months, Pragya said. “She was still walking with a limp,” she wrote, adding that Divya was limping when she left home on the day she was killed. Pragya alleged that Bajpai followed Divya to a bank in Gomti Nagar, where she had gone with a colleague to collect a cheque. She said CCTV footage showed Divya leaving home and another recording showed her confronting Bajpai while limping. According to Pragya, Bajpai arrived outside the bank in an autorickshaw carrying revolvers and opened fire. She alleged that he then struck Divya repeatedly on the face and head with the butt of a revolver before firing again. Pragya questioned how Bajpai obtained the firearms and whether anyone else helped him. She also said Bajpai could not drive and alleged that he arrived at and fled from the scene in an autorickshaw.
‘I still haven’t told my mother’
Pragya described struggling to tell their mother about Divya’s death. She said the post-mortem could not be conducted that day and was scheduled for the following morning. “I still haven’t mustered the courage to tell Mom,” she wrote, saying she had told her mother that Divya was in critical condition and had gone to sleep beside her. Pragya also said CCTV footage from outside the bank showed employees fleeing as the shooting took place. Police have not publicly confirmed all the allegations made in Pragya’s posts. The circumstances surrounding Divya’s killing, including the alleged stalking, the source of the firearms and whether anyone else was involved, remain under investigation.
What happend in Lucknow
Bajpayi allegedly shot dead his estranged wife, Divya outside her workplace in Gomti Nagar on Thursday before returning home and killing his younger sister and himself, police said. The incident began around 12.15pm when Bajpayi reached a private bank branch near Manoj Pandey Crossing, where Divya worked as a relationship manager. The couple reportedly had a brief argument outside the bank before Bajpayi allegedly pulled out a pistol and shot her dead. He then returned to his residence near Husadiya Crossing, around 3km from the bank, where he allegedly shot his 31-year-old sister, Sheeba, before turning the gun on himself. Police said the three deaths occurred within around 30 minutes.
