Sand mining complainant shot in Patna

PATNA: Police recovered the bullet-ridden body of one Pankaj Kumar (32) from Katarhi village under the Rania Talab police station area in Patna district’s Paliganj sub-division on Saturday.
According to sources, Pankaj had lodged complaints with mines and geology department against illegal sand mining at his village, Janpara in Bikram block, some months back apart from filing several RTIs regarding the issue.
SHO of Rania Talab police station Indrajeet Singh said preliminary investigations revealed that Pankaj, who had gone to his maternal aunt’s residence on Friday, did not return home. “Residents of Katarhi village informed the police after spotting the body lying in a pool of blood along a road. Pankaj was shot in neck from a close range. An empty cartridge was also recovered from the spot. Pankaj’s body was handed over to his family members after post mortem at Paliganj sub-divisional hospital,” the SHO said, adding Pankaj owned a general store at the village. He said police have so far not received any written complaint from the family members as they were busy cremating the body of the victim.
Paliganj DSP Manoj Kumar Pandey said Pankaj used to post contents on his social media profile regularly against sand-laden trucks passing through his village, much to the inconvenience of common people and schoolchildren. “The spot from where the body was recovered is not the main road of the village. It’s a secluded place. It seems that someone close to Pankaj took him to the spot where the incident occurred.”