PATNA: Angry locals torched a police SUV and damaged two other vehicles after a ward member’s bullet-ridden body was recovered from a field on the outskirts of Hariharpur village under the Baniyapur police station area in Saran on Wednesday morning.
Sources claimed that the murder was a fallout of political rivalry ahead of the upcoming panchayat polls in the state.
SP Santosh Kumar told TOI over the phone that the slain man, identified as Mohammad Saddam (30), was a member of Chhapra ward number 12. He hailed from Hariharpur village.
“When Saddam did not return home on Tuesday night, his family informed police that he was missing. A search operation was conducted to trace him after which his bike and cellphone were recovered from a secluded place in the village around midnight,” the SP said, adding that his family had not yet disclosed why the 30-year-old was murdered or who his rivals were.
The SP claimed that police were trying to trace the killers of Saddam who might have been shot in the head from behind. He added, “His body has been handed over to his family after conducting a postmortem. The last rites are yet to be performed because his family members are waiting for some relatives to reach the village.”
Meanwhile, two DSP-rank officers and additional forces have been deployed at the village to maintain law and order and keep an eye on miscreants.
“The SUV, in which a police team had reached the crime spot, was torched. The windscreens and windows of two more vehicles were damaged by the miscreants,” the SP said.
(With inputs from H K Verma in Chhapra)