Villagers in Gopalganj protest murder of missing youth

Alok Mishra

Gopalganj: Agitated over the delay in arrest of the criminals involved in the murder of a missing youth Jitendra Yadav, the villagers blocked Sasamusa-Semra main road on Friday raising slogans against the local police.

The villagers were demanding immediate presence of Gopalganj SP on the spot. On getting information, Kuchaikot police reached the spot. The cops had to retreat seeing the mood of the villagers. The agitation by the villagers paralysed the movement of the vehicle on the aforesaid road causing great hardship to the commuters of the neighbouring villages, who also joined the agitation. Members of Jivika also joined the agitation and demanded immediate presence of Gopalganj DM on the spot. They demanded an ex-gratia payment of Rs 25 lakh to the dependents of the deceased. Later, local SHO Mahendra Kumar reached the spot with reinforcement and cleared the road blockade.

The road blockade was cleared only after Bhushan Choubey, son of former MLA late Bachcha Choubey, and District Board member Khushboo Devi pacified the villagers assuring that the cops would arrest those involved in the murder of the youth. Later, an FIR was lodged against five persons including a resident of Rampur Khareya village.

It may be mentioned here that Jitendra Yadav, son of Khedan Choudhary of Rampur Khareya village under Kuchaikot police station, went missing after he left his house on September 20, 2016, and his body was later found hanging from a tree near Bhopatpur Chawar on September 22 morning.