The quota shop, which has been the cause of controversy in the village for the past four years, was thirsty for blood. In which not only one had to lose his life, but half a dozen had to shed his blood too. Everything happened so fast that neither the administration got an opportunity to do anything nor the villagers had the opportunity to recover.
However, the bloody struggle did not happen spontaneously and abruptly, rather its script was being written since about four years ago. Governance and power played important roles from time to time to keep it alive. However, the meeting in the village panchayat building for allotment of the shop ended unabated, but death surely left its mark.
There was tension in the village for the last four years due to two cheap flock shops under Durjanpur Gram Panchayat under development block Bairia. After the assembly elections, activist Dhirendra Singh of Baria MLA Surendra Singh and former chief Nathuni Yadav got involved in complaining about the shop of quota. Due to this, the shop of Ajay Kumar Yadav of Kendra Hanumanganj under Durjanpur Gram Panchayat was suspended on 22 May 2017.
Ramkumar Ram shop of Kendra Durjanpur was suspended on 12 April 2019. Both stores were canceled on 1 September 2017. After this, the case of both shops went to Mandalayukt Azamgarh.
During the hearing, the then Mandalayukta ordered the SDM to be reconsidered at both the shops. During the investigation, the then supply inspector Suryakumar Pushkar gave a clean chit to the shop, but under political pressure, the then supply inspector Suryakumar Pushkar was transferred and the supply inspector Shyamnath was posted to Bairia and he and the tehsildar were given the responsibility of investigation.
Once again both shops were canceled. Both the shops are currently pending before the High Court. It was only after this that the politics of selecting new shops started for the people of his side. The meeting was held on 28 September last, after the cancellation of the shop selection meeting thrice in the past, but in view of the tension, Block Development Officer Gajendra Pratap Singh postponed the meeting.
Then village BJP leader Digvijay Singh handed over the leaflets to the concerned officials and demanded that the PAC be deployed at the time of shop selection. In this order, in an open meeting on Thursday, SDM Suresh Kumar Pal, Jurisdictional Chandrakesh Singh, Block Development Officer Gajendra Pratap Singh, Gram Panchayat Secretary, and Revati Police were meeting for the selection of the shop, that bloody struggle started.
Named case against eight
Jaiprakash's brother Moon Pal, who was shot dead in a fight during the allocation meeting of Kota shop in Durjanpur, has filed a complaint against eight nominated and 25 unknown people in the Revathi police station. On the basis of Tahrir, the Ilakai police have registered a case and hastened the search for the accused.