Kishanganj: Lynched SHO’s mom dies, cremation held together

PATNA: Barely 24 hours after the lynching of Kishanganj Town police station SHO Ashwini Kumar in a bordering West Bengal village, his septuagenarian mother Urmila Devi could not bear the shock and died on Sunday. The Kishanganj police team had raided the village to arrest the accused of a bike loot case.
Both Kumar and his mother were cremated together on the outskirts of their village Panchu Mandal Tola under Jankinagar police station area of Banmankhi in Purnia district.Kumar’s mother was suffering from several age-related ailments. His father had died around seven years ago, Kumar’s maternal uncle Subhash Singh told TOI over phone.
“Kumar’s mother died of heart attack around 5.30am on Sunday. Initially, she was not told about the incident, but her condition started deteriorating after Kumar’s body reached home around 5pm on Saturday,” Subhash said.
Purnia divisional commissioner Rahul Ranjan Mahiwal, IG (Purnia range) Suresh Prasad Choudhary, DM Rahul Kumar, SP Daya Shankar, Kishnganj SDPO Anwar Jawed and several other civil and police officers were present during the cremation.
Kumar was 52 years old. He is survived by his wife and three minor children, including two daughters. His younger brother is a farmer. The SHO was a 1994-batch inspector-rank officer. He was posted as Kishanganj Town SHO on August 5 last year.
Kishanganj SP Kumar Ashish said the mastermind, Mohammad Israel, and his son Mohammad Abdul were arrested by West Bengal police on Sunday for their alleged involvement in Kumar’s lynching at Pantapara village in Panjipara police outpost under Goalpokher police station are of Islampur police district in North Dinazpur around 3.30am on Saturday. The village is hardly 12km from Kishanganj town. Three persons were arrested on Saturday.
When asked, the SP said it was Israel who had used the public address system of a mosque at Pantapara to instigate people, who attacked the SHO. He said Kishanganj police also arrested two more accused from the border area when they were trying to escape with a looted bike in the wee hours of Saturday after the lynching incident.
“They are also accused in the SHO’s murder case. It is the same bike which was looted from Kishanganj Town area on Saturday night. Kumar and his team had gone to Pantapara to recover that bike,” the SP said, adding altogether 21 named persons and 500 unknown people have been made accused in the SHO lynching case.