Police are probing a reported relationship dispute and allegations that the accused had pressured the teacher to marry him. His parents have also been named in the FIR based on the victim’s family’s complaint.
By PC Bureau
September 22: A 26-year-old teacher was shot dead inside a private school in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri on Monday morning, allegedly by a man who had entered the campus carrying a country-made pistol. The attacker, identified as Mohammad Saud Ansari, 28, subsequently shot himself and died, turning a school filled with children into the scene of a double death.
The shooting took place at around 11.30 am at Children’s Academy School on Shahpura Kothi Road, near the Kheri head post office and opposite the district collectorate, while students and staff were on the premises. Police said both the teacher, Nishat Fatima, and Ansari died at the spot.
The sound of gunfire triggered panic inside the school. Students and staff rushed away from the area as police were alerted. Parents also gathered outside the school after learning about the shooting, anxious to establish the safety of their children.
Senior police officers, including Lakhimpur Kheri SSP Khyati Garg, and District Magistrate Anjani Kumar Singh, reached the school and inspected the scene. A forensic team was called in to collect evidence, while the bodies were sent for post-mortem examination.
Teacher allegedly confronted by former partner
Police said Ansari had gone to the school to meet Fatima, whom he had known for a long time.
According to the police account and a complaint filed by Fatima’s brother Shadab Akhtar, the two had been in a relationship and Fatima had recently ended it. Her family alleged that Ansari had been harassing her and pressuring her to marry him.
The family also alleged that they had raised the issue with Ansari’s parents and asked them to intervene, but the harassment allegedly continued. These allegations form part of the complaint and are being investigated.
Police have described a relationship dispute and Ansari’s alleged insistence on marriage as the apparent background to the killing.
The FIR registered by Sadar Kotwali police names Ansari, his father Qayum Ansari and his mother. Police have invoked Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, relating to murder, and Section 61(2) concerning criminal conspiracy.
Law and order situation in BJP’s double-engine-ruled Uttar Pradesh.
A man entered a private school in Lakhimpur Kheri, dragged a female teacher in front of students and staff, and then shot her dead.
Wherever BJP government is in power, law and order has collapsed. pic.twitter.com/aEPxysIo2b
— Saral Patel (@SaralPatel) September 22, 2026
How the shooting unfolded
According to police, Ansari reached the school at around 11.30 am to meet Fatima.
Police said he was carrying a country-made pistol concealed in a bag. He met Fatima and subsequently went with her towards the upper floor. The shooting took place in a corridor outside a classroom.
CCTV footage is now a key part of the investigation. Police and media reports indicate that footage shows Ansari holding Fatima by the arm and moving with her towards the staircase while she appeared to resist. The exact sequence immediately before the shooting is being reconstructed from CCTV footage and witness accounts.
Police said Ansari fired at Fatima at close range before turning the weapon on himself.
One police account said three rounds were fired at Fatima. Both subsequently died at the scene.
Hundreds of children on campus
The shooting caused widespread panic because it occurred during school hours.
Reports differ on the precise number of students present, but one account said around 350 children were on the campus when the gunfire erupted. School staff said nursery and kindergarten classes had ended around the time of the shooting and parents had begun arriving to collect children.
The firing occurred in a corridor outside a classroom, with children and staff nearby.
Police quickly cordoned off the area and restricted movement inside the school while forensic personnel examined the crime scene.
The incident has also raised questions about how an armed outsider was able to enter the school and reach an upper-floor area during school hours.
SSP Khyati Garg said investigators would examine the school’s security arrangements, CCTV coverage and the procedures governing the entry of visitors. Police are also trying to establish Ansari’s precise movements after he entered the premises.
Cryptic social-media post under scrutiny
Investigators are also examining Ansari’s social-media activity in the hours and days before the shooting.
Hindustan Times reported that an Instagram account allegedly linked to Ansari carried a cryptic message shortly before the incident, asking people to delete his photographs and messages and report his Facebook account.
Police are examining the post as a possible clue to his state of mind and preparations before the shooting, although the message by itself does not establish why he went to the school or what he intended to do.
Investigators are also reportedly examining earlier posts from the account.
The police are additionally looking into the firearms allegedly recovered from Ansari. Hindustan Times reported that two country-made pistols were allegedly recovered from his bag, though the significance of the recovery and whether both weapons were connected to the shooting remain under investigation.
READ: Bihar’s Moral Policing: Main Accused Shot in Leg in Police Encounter
Investigation into family members
The FIR against Ansari’s parents has added another dimension to the case.
Fatima’s brother alleged that the family had informed Ansari’s parents about his behaviour towards her and sought their intervention. Police have therefore included the parents in the case under the criminal-conspiracy provision.
The allegations against them will have to be established through the investigation and evidence collected by police.
Investigators are expected to examine the family’s earlier interactions, any communications between Fatima and Ansari, CCTV footage, witness statements and the circumstances surrounding Ansari’s entry into the school.
cumstances that led to the fatal shooting.
