Elderly farmer shot dead in Naugachia

Bhagalpur: A 70-year-old farmer, Buto Mandal, who was sleeping in a cowshed adjacent to his farmland near his house in Paschimi Bhitha Bahiyar under Ismailpur police station in Naugachia police district, was shot dead from close range after midnight on Saturday. Family members found his body lying in a pool of blood in the early hours of Sunday when they reached the cowshed in the morning. Panic-stricken, they raised an alarm and alerted neighbours and villagers, besides informing the Ismailpur police.According to police sources, the assailants fired twice from close range to ensure Mandal’s death, as two empty bullet shells were recovered from the spot. SHO of Ismailpur police station Dheeraj Kumar said the body of the 70-year-old farmer was recovered on Sunday, adding the FSL has been requisitioned to investigate the case.The SHO said an FIR has been registered in connection with the murder. “All that the family members could tell us was that they saw the body early Sunday morning which means it might have been done in the midnight when everyone was fast asleep inside the house. We have taken the body into custody and it is being sent for post-mortem,” the SHO said, adding police are probing the reasons behind the murder.