Royal gang members demand Rs 35 lakh from senior JD(U) leader

Satish Sharma

Bettiah :   Members of a self styled   criminal gang ` Royal’ exploded a  bomb  on the gate of residence of  Dr N N Shahi, a  reputed physician and  district president of ruling JD(U)  on Friday  night and  pasted  a threatening  letter  on  the gate  in  new colony locality. The criminals  have asked him to pay Rs 35 lakh before June 7  failing which he will be eliminated. Dr  Shahi  being district  president of  JD(U) has not lodged any FIR  with police in this regard so far.

ASP Rajesh Kkumar rushed to the  spot  with force after the explosion and  recovered scattered  bomb
splinters besides seizing the  threatening letter. West Champaran SP  Vinay Kumar said that  a special team of police  has been constituted  to investigate the case and nab the criminals. Dr Shahi  is senior leader of  JD(U)   and  had contested  unsuccessfully the 2015 assembly  elections  on party ticket  from Chanpatiya constituency and is considered close to  Bihar CM Nitish Kumar . The  police have provided
two  armed  bodyguards  to Dr Shahi  after the incident.

The  members of Royal  gang have unleashed terror  in Bettiah town  for the last two months. They had made a murderous attack  on a trader  in Haribatika locality  on  May 21 and  left a  letter  asking him to pay  extortion  amount. On  May 26,  they pasted  a threatening letter  on the shutter of a medical shop in bus stand  area. They had also demanded Rs 10 lakh from a sand trader recently. The police has failed  to identify  the members of the gang so far. On Saturday  night, the criminals  looted a bag containing  Rs 6 .5 lakh at gun point from a  trader Sarfaraz Ahmad  when he was locking his  shop  near  Haribatika cross road  and escaped.