23 children rescued as taken hoastge by a muder accused in Northern India.

After a hostage situation that lasted nearly nine hours, the Uttar Pradesh Police managed to rescue the 23 children who had been taken captive by an accused in Uttar Pradesh's Farrukhabad India. While the children were rescued, the accused Subhash Batham was killed in the ensuing police encounter.

The children, who are between five to seven years old, spent nine hours in the house of horrors as distraught parents awaited their rescue.

Uttar Pradesh Additional Secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi confirmed that Subash Batham had been killed in an encounter and that all children were rescued safely.

Batham, who was armed, took over 20 children hostage on Thursday after inviting them for a birthday party at his house in a village in Farrukhabad. The children went to his house at around 3 pm.

Once locals realised the children had been taken hostage, the police were called.

At around 5 pm, Batham fired from inside the house on those who tried to speak to him, leading to a policeman and a local getting injured.

Subsequently, the SP and the District Magistrate reached the spot.

Seven hours later, he released a six-month-old girl as a special team and other officials engaged with him. Police said Batham handed over the girl to his neighbour from a balcony.

Around 1 am on Friday, the locals laid siege on Batham's house and broke the front door. As the police team entered his house, it fired on Batham in defence.

team of NSG (National Security Guard) commandos was also deployed via a special aircraft to reach Farukhabad.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was said to be monitoring the situation in Farrukhabad, which is nearly 200 km from state capital Lucknow.

The chief minister has announced an award of Rs 10 lakh for the UP Police team that successfully carried out the operation. "All personnel who took part in operation will be given a certificate of appreciation," said UP Additional Chief Secretary Awanish K Awasthi