Patna: A gang of bike-borne criminals shot dead the president of Riga Sugar Mill Employees' Union, Om Prakash Patel, in Sitamarhi on Sunday, triggering protests by the employees and the residents.
The incident occurred around 10am when Om (45) was on way to Riga from Ganeshpur Babhangama village on his motorbike. Three assailants riding a motorbike overtook the union leader on the Riga-Suppi road and pumped six bullets into his chest from point-blank range. Riga in Sitamarhi district is about 170km north of Patna.
The assailants who were in the age group of 20 to 25 years escaped towards Suppi after the incident. The residents rushed Om to the local primary health centre from where he was referred to the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital in Muzaffarpur. However, he succumbed to injuries on way to SKMCH.
As the news about the murder spread in Riga, the block headquarters of Sitamarhi, a number of residents and employees assembled outside the Riga Sugar Mill and held demonstrations blaming the management of hatching the conspiracy of Om's murder. They went on a rampage and blocked the Riga-Suppi road for four hours.
The traffic on the road remained disrupted. The situation was brought under control after intervention of senior police officials who promised to bring the culprits to book at the earliest. Additional force was deployed at the sugar mill as a precautionary measure as the workers were agitated over the incident.
The family members alleged that Om had received a threat to his life following an agitation in the mill in December last year. He was elected president of the union about four years ago and was serving with the sugarcane section of the mill on compassionate ground for the past six years. "A petition was submitted to the SP by the union leader but the police didn't take any action leading to his murder," a relative said.
Sitamarhi superintendent of police Hari Prasath S said the police recovered four empty cartridges from the spot and sent them to the state forensic science laboratory for ballistic examination to ascertain the use of weapon in the crime. He further said the deceased had criminal antecedents and was also arrested in connection with an extortion case in 2016. He was later released on bail, the SP said.
The station house officer of Riga police station, Lallan Kumar, however, denied the use of any sophisticated weapon in the killing of the union leader. "The police are probing the case from different angles. The family members have accused the owner of the mill OP Dhanuka of hatching the conspiracy of the murder," he added.
