Dhaba owners panic after two are shot at

Kaimur: Panic has gripped owners and employees of roadside dhabas along the old Grand Trunk in Kaimur district following indiscriminate firing by two armed persons around midnight on Friday.

Ajay Kumar, 35, and Parsuram Choudhary, 50, owner of a dhaba and driver of a truck, respectively, have been referred to a Varanasi hospital where the condition of Ajay was said to be critical.

Police said the incident took place around midnight when the employees were serving food to the customers at Annapurna Line Hotel in Mohania, around 160km southwest of Patna.

Three criminals, riding on two motorbikes, reached the site and opened fire.

Dhaba owner Ajay Kumar and truck driver Parsuram Choudhary suffered bullet injuries in the firing. They were rushed to a local government primary health centre from where they were referred to the Varanasi hospital.

A police officer posted at Mohania police station said the motive behind the firing was to create panic among dhaba owners and extort money from them.

“Efforts were underway to arrest the assailants, who were speaking in the local Bhojpuri dialect,” he told The Telegraph.

Mohania police station house officer Manoj Kumar said the reason behind the murderous attack on the dhaba owner and the driver was yet to be ascertained. “The police are probing the incident from different angles,” he said.

He ruled out the possibility of robbery behind the firing. “Preliminary investigation has suggested that a quarrel broke out between the assailants and the employees of the dhaba over meal.

Infuriated over the inability of the hotel staff to serve food, one of the assailants opened fire causing injuries to the owner and truck driver,” the SHO pointed out.

On March 25, two persons were shot at and critically injured by a gang of motorbike-borne criminals at Mama-Bhanja Line Hotel under the jurisdiction of Kudra police station in Kaimur district. Later, one of the victims, stated to be the driver of a truck, succumbed to his injuries.

Mohania is about 15km from Mama-Bhanjha Line Hotel on national highway-2 where truck-drivers used to stay at roadside dhabas, mostly at night.

‘The dhaba owners are being targeted by a gang of armed criminals to create panic among them,” an investigating officer said.

Over 50 dhabas were situated on the old GT road (read NH-2) between Mohania in Kaimur and Dehri-on-Sone in Rohtas district. “The deteriorating law and order will have its adverse impact on the flourishing trade,” said a dhaba owner under the cover of anonymity.

Courtesy: The Telegraph