Bandh in Benipatti to protest RTI activist’s murder, five arrested

MADHUBANI

:

Benipatti

observed complete bandh on Sunday in protest against the murder of an RTI activist and local web portal reporter,

Buddhinath Jha

aka Avinash Jha, allegedly by dubious nursing home operators against whom he had been writing and complaining to the district administration. The bandh, however, remained peaceful.

The charred body of Avinash, strapped in a gunny bag , was recovered on Friday night. His brother

Chandra Shekhar Jha

had lodged a missing report at Benipatti police station on November 11, apprehending his kidnapping. In fact, Avinash had been missing since November 9.

When this reporter visited Benipatti on Sunday, Avinash’s cousin Vikash Jha said the protest was a spontaneous reaction to the reported statement of Madhubani SP Satya Prakash to a news channel that a love affair might be the reason behind the alleged murder. This infuriated the locals who viewed this as an attempt to divert the people’s attention and save the culprits.

Addressing a press conference at Madhubani, Benipatti SDPO Arun Kumar Singh said Chandra Shekhar, the son of

Dayanand Jha

, informed the police on November 10 night that his younger brother Buddhinath, 23, had been missing since the previous night. Acting promptly, the police took out the call details of Buddhinath’s mobile phone and found that he had his last telephonic conversation at 10pm with one Purnakala Devi, a nursing staff of Anurag Healthcare on Kataiyya Road, he said.

The SDPO said when she was questioned, the woman lied that she was at her father’s place in Brahmpura village under the Arer police station area that night. This claim was found to be untrue on technical verification, which proved that she was at Benipatti.

When interrogated further, she admitted that Avinash had come to the nursing home at about 10.15pm and met her. After sometime when they came out of the nursing home, five people waiting there kidnapped Avinash and took him towards the nursing home of K K Chaudhary. She identified the kidnappers as

Raushan Kumar Sah

, Bittu Kumar, Dipak Kumar Pandit, Pawan Kumar Pandit and Manish Kumar. They all have been arrested. An FIR (243/21) has been lodged against them, the SDPO added.


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