A close aide of BJP leader Smriti Irani was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi district, with police not ruling out the possibility of it being a "political murder". Surendra Singh (50), the former head of Baraulia village was shot at around 11.30 pm Saturday.

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.