Milk booth operator beaten to death in Bhagalpur

Bhagalpur: A 55-year-old milk booth operator was allegedly beaten to death by a group led by his neighbour following a minor dispute in Khiridad village under Sanhoula police station area of Kahalgaon subdivision late on Friday night.The deceased, Subodh Mandal, ran a dairy in the village. Police have registered an FIR based on the statement of his elder son Chandan, and detained two suspects for questioning on Saturday.In his statement, Chandan alleged that the incident occurred while his mother was cooking at home and their neighbour Ramdhari Mandal’s goat entered their house. When the family tried to drive the animal out, Ramdhari objected and began abusing them, asking why they were pushing the goat as it might get injured.As the argument escalated, Ramdhari and his associates allegedly dragged Subodh Mandal out of the house and assaulted him in front of family members.“My father sustained serious injuries during the assault and he later died,” Chandan alleged in his statement to the police.He named Ramdhari Mandal, Golu Mandal, Anita Devi and Rahul Kumar as the accused.Sources said there had been a minor dispute between the two sides around 15 days earlier as well.Sanhoula police have taken Ramdhari Mandal and Golu Mandal into custody for questioning. SHO Rupesh Kumar said raids are being conducted to arrest the other two accused, who are absconding.Police have sent the body to a govt hospital for the postmortem.