Police yet to arrest Gopalganj liquor tragedy mastermind, arrest his landlord

Alok Mishra

Gopalganj: To cover up its failure in arresting the mastermind of Khajurbanni liquor tragedy Rupesh Shukla alias Pandit, Gopalganj police arrested Pandit’s landlord Angad Kumar and his son Rajan Kumar for patronising him. A police team led by Town police Inspector Baleshwar Rai and Manjha police station SHO Ramsewak Rawat on December 20 night arrested the duo in a raid conducted at their house at Harkhua Road.

Police sources said that Pandit was living at the house of Angad Kumar as a tenant. After the death of 21 persons at Khajurbanni on August 15-16, 2016, police carried out raids and arrested Nagina Pasi on August 19. According to Nagina, police came to know that the mastermind of the tragedy is Pandit. Separate police teams of Gopalganj started carrying out raids in Uttar Pradesh and East and West Champaran districts, but he managed to evade arrest. Later,  police attached his property.

Locals said that Angad Prasad’s family is known as one of the prestigious traders’ families in Gopalganj urban area and his arrest has enraged the trading community. Police team did not bother to inform the family members under which section both father and son were arrested, said a local trader. Both of them are languishing in Mohammadpur police lock-up for the past four days.

Angad’s wife Shakuntala Devi on December 24 filed a petition in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gopalganj, seeking justice to her husband and son. The CJM court immediately took cognizance of the issue and  sent a notice to the local police. After getting the court’s notice, police reached the court on December 25 making the father-son accused in the liquor tragedy.

When the police reached the court with father and son, the court directed police to submit case diary. asking them on what charges both the arrested persons should be sent to jail. After this the cops were engaged in preparing necessary documents. A large number of people assembled on the court premises as the news of production of the duo spread in the area.