Tension erupted in Bihar’s Gopalganj district after the mutilated body of a missing 26-year-old man, with eyes gouged out and tongue chopped off, was recovered on Saturday, police said on Sunday.
While the deceased’s family claimed he was a priest at a temple, police said he was a caretaker. Police also said that five people were detained for interrogation in connection with the incident that sparked protests on a national highway and prompted the BJP to target the Nitish Kumar-led government.
The murder came close on the heels of the killing of a farmer who was found lying in a pool of blood with his left eye missing in East Champaran on December 15.
According to Gopalganj acting SP Hriday Kant, the deceased – identified as Manoj Kumar – went missing at Danapur village under Majhagarh police station area on December 10. His body was recovered from a bush on Saturday, SHO Dinesh Kumar Yadav said. “We are looking into the matter.
The deceased’s family said he was a priest at Daneshwar Nath Mandir and was locked in a land tussle with other villagers. “We never had an inkling that the dispute would lead to such a terrible consequence,” the victim’s brother, Ashok Sah, told HT.
{{/usCountry}}The deceased’s family said he was a priest at Daneshwar Nath Mandir and was locked in a land tussle with other villagers. “We never had an inkling that the dispute would lead to such a terrible consequence,” the victim’s brother, Ashok Sah, told HT.
{{/usCountry}}Yadav dismissed the claim that the deceased was a priest. “He was a caretaker.”
Angry villagers blocked NH-27 to protest against the murder. A police party that went to the spot was attacked and its vehicle was vandalised, sub-divisional police officer Pranjal Tripathi said, according to PTI.
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla condemned the murder, saying: “There is no Nitish-raj in Bihar; it is jungle raj in the state… This (murder) shows the kind of uncivil and unsafe environment…” RJD state spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwary hit back, saying: “The probe is on. The BJP is frustrated by the good works being done by the state government.”