The wife of a man who held more than 20 children and women hostage in Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukhabad district on Thursday was allegedly beaten to death by locals, PTI reported on Friday, citing police officials. She was thrashed soon after her husband, Subhash Batham, was shot dead by the police to end the eight-hour rescue operation on Thursday night.

Inspector General (Kanpur) Mohit Agarwal said that the man’s wife was injured after being beaten up and was taken to a hospital in a critical state. Agarwal said the exact cause of the woman’s death would be ascertained after a postmortem examination.

Locals reportedly pelted bricks and stones at the woman. Police suspect that the woman may have been aware of Batham’s plans, however there is no official confirmation yet, according to NDTV.

Batham, a murder accused out on bail, had invited the children home for his daughter’s birthday and then held them at gunpoint. However, he did not make any demands from the police to rescue the children. At one point, he threw a bomb out of a window at villagers and fired at them, police said.

The man had demanded to speak to local Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Nagendra Singh Rathore. However, when the MLA arrived, the man fired from inside the house. The legislator escaped unhurt.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Adityanath has declared a Rs 10-lakh award for the Uttar Pradesh Police personnel who successfully conducted the rescue of all the hostages. “All personnel who took part in the operation will be given a certificate of appreciation,” the state’s Additional Chief Secretary Awanish K Awasthi said.

Batham has four cases against him, including murder. All four cases were filed at the Mohammadabad police station in 2001.