Boy kidnapped and killed in Gopalganj, villagers block NH -28 for 7 hours

Alok Mishra

Gopalganj: Agitated over the kidnapping of a Class 10 student of Hazari Lal High School and his brutal murder, the villagers blocked NH-28 with the body at Bhatwa Mor under Kuchaikot police station in Gopalganj district on Thursday for over seven hours demanding immediate arrest of the killers. The situation became explosive with the passage of time as the mob demanded immediate presence of Gopalganj SP on the spot. Seeing the situation getting out of control, Kuchaikot ps SHO Mahendra Kumar called Circle Officer (CO) Amit Ranjan on the spot. Though the cops made attempts to clear the road blockade, they had to retreat as they were outnumbered.

Later, Bisambharpur ps SHO Vikas Kumar, Gopalpur ps SHO Ajay Kumar, Jadopur ps SHO Rakesh Mohan, Thawe ps SHO Praveen Kumar reached there with reinforcement. SDPO Manoj Kumar also rushed there. Police later cleared the road blockade late on Thursday evening.

Locals said that Upendra Pandey,  son of Brij Kishore Pandey of village Baliwan Sagar under Bisambharpur police station, went to sleep on November 30 around 11 pm after fixing an alarm in his father’s cellphone. Around 1.51 am he informed his family members on their cellphone that he was being mercilessly beaten by some people. As his family members started searching for him, another call came on their cellphone asking them to come near Hanuman Temple. The family members searched for Upendra at every temple at the village and later informed the local police about it at around 2.30 am on Thursday. The cops did not pay heed to their repeated requests, the villagers claimed.

Locals said that police on Thursday morning recovered Upendra’s body near Hanuman temple. As the family members and the villagers came to know about it, they became agitated and blocked the HN-28. The road blockade was lifted only after SDPO Manoj Kumar promised stern action against the culprits.