Car found, owner at large

Patna: Vaishali police on Sunday traced the body of Sarai toll plaza employee Mukesh Kumar, who was killed on Saturday evening following a brawl over toll tax payment, and also seized the car belonging to the assailants.

The injured man, a resident of Sarsai village in Vaishali district, was rushed to Hajipur Sadar hospital but was declared brought dead. But before post-mortem could be conducted on Mukesh’s body, his relatives carried it away.

Later, police convinced them to bring the body back to the hospital.

The station house officer (SHO) of Sarai police station, Raman Kumar, said the body was handed over to the family after post-mortem around 3am on Sunday.

Officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) paid Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the next of kin of the deceased.

The district administration provided another Rs 20,000 to the deceased’s family for his last rites. The relatives had demanded a compensation of Rs 25 lakh from the NHAI, which runs the toll plaza near Saidpur Patedha village on the Hajipur-Muzaffarpur main road. Hajipur additional superintendent of police Ajay Kumar said the killer’s identity had been ascertained and a team had been despatched to nab him. Footage from the closed-circuit television showed the driver of the car coming from Muzaffarpur indulging in a fight with the employee on duty. “The employee and the driver had an altercation over the latter’s attempt to cross the toll plaza through the VIP lane. Angered over the employee’s audacity not to allow the vehicle to cross, the driver alighted from the car and pumped a bullet into Mukesh’s chest,” the ASP said. Mukesh was rushed to Hajipur Sadar hospital, where the doctors declared him brought dead.

The shooter had criminal antecedents and had earlier been sent to jail, the ASP revealed. The car in which four persons were travelling was found abandoned near Hathsarganj on Hajipur-Lalganj Road late on Saturday night. Police have also ascertained the identity of the car owner but the ASP refused to divulge the name for sake of investigation. “We are not supposed to share certain information with the media. You will be provided relevant information at the appropriate time,” the ASP told The Telegraph over phone. He ruled out the use of any sophisticated weapon in the killing.

Traffic on National Highway 77, which connects Muzaffarpur with Hajipur and Patna, remained paralysed for nearly nine hours owing to snarl.

The local residents rued that no action had been taken against offenders in earlier incidents of assaults on employees of the toll plaza.

Courtesy: The Telegraph