PATNA: A villager was beaten to death for protesting suspicious activities of his panchayat mukhiya’s grandson near his cousin’s house and getting his bike seized by police at Deotha under Pasraha police station area in Khagaria district on Friday night. The deceased was identified as Gado Baitha (50).
Police said Deotha panchayat mukhiya Chattri Sharma and his seven other associates had been named in the FIR lodged by Gado’s wife. All the accused were evading arrest.
Village sources said Chattri’s grandson with another person reached near Gado’s cousin Kare Baitha’s residence at around midnight on Thursday. “Kare, after hearing some noise, came out and spotted the mukhiya’s bike parked there. The mukhiya’s grandson with another person fled from the spot when Kare tried to stop him,” a villager said.
He said Kare called chowkidar and got the bike seized and taken to the police station. He said the mukhiya is presently associated with JD(U), but earlier he was with RJD.
When contacted, Gado’s elder brother Lakhu Baitha told TOI over the phone that the mukhiya along with 50 other supporters reached Kare’s residence Friday night and started thrashing him for daring to get his bike seized by the police and protesting against his grandson. “Gado also reached there and he was also thrashed which resulted in his death. All the accused fled away,” he said.
Pasraha police station SHO Amlesh Kumar said raids were on to nab the mukhiya and his supporters. “Gado’s wife has not mentioned any reason behinds his killing,” he said.
Kumar said the body was handed over to family members after postmortem on Saturday.