Mukhia, Barap Panchayat, Bhojpur, Arun Singh, shot dead on Aug. 5 evening

Kumar Rajiv Nayan

Ara :Angry over the murder of Mukhia of  Barap panchayat in Bhojpur district  Arun Singh, on August 5, 2019, late evening, at his village Sahangi under Gadhani police station, hundreds of his supporters and family members blocked Ara -Sasaram main road near Sahangi Mor for about three hours paralysing movement of vehicles on August 6, 2019.

The protesters burnt tyres on road raising slogans against the district administration and demanded arrest of miscreants at the earliest. Police tried to remove blockade by taking two persons under custody. The blockade was finally lifted after positive assurance from police officers. Heavy police force has been deployed at village Sahangi to maintain law and order in the area.

Bhojpur SP Sushil Kumar said that Barap Panchayat Mukhia and resident of Sahangi village under Gadhani police station  Arun Singh, son of Hardwar Singh, was talking to a person at his village on August 5, 2019, late evening, when some armed miscreants came and pumped bullet into his dead from point blank range and escaped. The villagers rushed him to Ara Sadar Hospital but he succumbed to his injuries on way to the hospital.

The SP said that an FIR has been lodged with Gadhani police station in this connection and stated that he has constituted a special police team under the SDPO for investigation into the incident and added that police are conducting raids at different places to arrest the miscreants though no arrest has so far been made in this regard. He said that old enmity is said to be the cause behind the murder of Mukhia Arun Singh. The slain Mukhia Arun Singh is survived by his wife Anita Devi, sons Ankur and Ashu, and daughter Julie.

A man came to the Mukhia when he was talking to a fellow villager to get his signature on a paper that reportedly led to some tiff between them and after sometime, the miscreants shot him dead. It is also said that the family of the Mukhia was being targeted ever since he was re-elected Mukhia for the second time. Two years ago his nephew Ravi Kumar was shot at and  injured. Tension prevails in and around Sahangi village following the incident.