Begusarai villagers ransack house, shop of ‘murder’ accused

PATNA: Irate villagers ransacked the house and a shop belonging to two brothers on Wednesday for their alleged involvement in the murder of a physically challenged man over a land dispute at a village in Begusarai.
The killing took place around 10 pm at Rachiyahi village under the Singhaul police station area of Begusarai on Tuesday. The slain person was identified as 55-year-old Shatrughan Rajak.
Sinhgaul police station SHO Deepak Kumar said villagers ransacked the house and a shop owned by accused Anil Rai and Munna Rai.
“Apart from the two brothers, two more persons Pankaj Rai and Arvind Rai were also involved in the killing. All four along with family members had fled the village leaving behind their house after the killing,” he said.
SHO Kumar said villagers were holding a meeting on the issue of dispute over a piece of land on which a temple is built.
“Anil and Munna used to tie their cattle on the plot while villagers used to claim that the land belonged to the temple. The meeting had just ended around 10 pm when four persons opened fire and Shatrughan received a bullet injury in his back which resulted in his death,” he said.
SHO said the slain person didn’t have any role in the dispute and had only reached the meeting to attend it as a resident of the village.
“This killing angered the villagers after which they ransacked the shop owned by the brothers and partially damaged their house too. However, police reached on time and prevented further violence,” he said.
He further said Shatrughan's body was handed over to the family after post-mortem on Wednesday. The SHO said an FIR had been registered against Anil, Munna, Pankaj and Arvind in connection with the killing. “Further investigation is on and raids are being conducted at several locations to arrest them,” he added.