Siwan traders block road over attack on colleague

PATNA: Traders of Mairwa Bazar in Siwan district blocked the Mairwa-Majhauli road and disrupted vehicular traffic for about an hour on Friday to protest the murderous attack on a wholesale dealer of building construction material, Nagendra Prasad.
Prasad was referred to a Gorakhpur hospital for treatment where his condition is stated to be stable. Two motorcycle-borne criminals opened fire causing bullet injuries to Prasad when he was sitting in his shop at Mairwa around 9pm on Thursday.
As the news about the murderous attack on the trader spread in the area, a group of businessmen and some locals blocked road and disrupted vehicular traffic.The roadblock was lifted only after the intervention of senior police officers, who assured prompt action and arrest of the accused at the earliest.
Siwan SP Abhinav Kumar said efforts were on to ascertain the identity of the assailants, who fled towards the Uttar Pradesh border after committing the crime. “The reason behind the incident couldn’t be immediately known,” he said.
The local traders, however, blamed the Mairwa police’s failure to initiate any action against the extortionists, who have threatened several businessmen with dire consequences for not following their diktats. “Police haath par haath rakh kar baithi hai (Police are sitting idle),” a local resident, Satyendra Kumar, said.
On Tuesday, the police had recovered half-burned body of a 37-year-old youth from Panchmahla locality under Sahajitpur police station of the district. The deceased was later identified as Mithilesh Kumar Singh, a resident of Chetan Chhapra village under the Baniapur police station area of the district.