Shot wife at work, put ‘betrayal’ WhatsApp status: How Lucknow murders unfolded in 2 hours | Timeline
Divya Mishra's sister, said her sister had recently observed a Teej fast for Bajpayee, making the violence that followed particularly “unexpected”.
At around 12:05 PM on a particular day in Lucknow, 37-year-old bank employee Divya Mishra arrived at ICICI Bank's Gomti Nagar branch in her car, accompanied by a colleague. She had been working at the branch for three to four years. As she stepped out of the car, her husband Manas Bajpayee, an assistant manager at the State Bank of India, allegedly assaulted her and then shot her. Bajpayee then fled the scene in his car.
Around 12:30 PM, Bajpayee returned to his home in Husadiya, approximately 2 km from the bank. It was around 1:26 PM when journalist and YouTuber Pragya Mishra posted on X (formerly Twitter) that she had received information about an attack on her sister. At 1:30 PM, the police received a call about a shooting at Bajpayee's residence in Husadiya. Upon arrival at the second crime scene, police were told that Bajpayee had returned home earlier and played the 'Hanuman Chalisa' in full volume.
By 1:40 PM, police reached the second crime scene and identified the deceased as Manas Bajpayee. They also recovered three unlicensed weapons from the scene. According to police, Bajpayee had allegedly confessed to killing his wife and accused her of "betrayal" in a WhatsApp status he posted after reaching home. He also reportedly mentioned that he planned to kill himself and his sister, Pragya Mishra, and that Pragya and her husband, Bharat Yadav, were aware of his wife's alleged "betrayal". The authenticity of this WhatsApp message is still under verification.
Written by urgent.news from Hindustan Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
