Sub-divisional magistrate (east), Rajesh Bharti (extreme left) talks to people at National Litchi Research Centre Mushahri in Muzaffarpur on Wednesday. Picture by Prakash Kumar

Muzaffarpur, May 11: Protests over the murder of the private guard of National Litchi Research Centre, Mushahri, brought the operations at the centre to a standstill today.

The security guard, Ratnesh Kumar Singh, was murdered on Tuesday.

The relatives of the deceased laid his body outside the main gate of the centre today and violently protested against the killing.

United Nations representative for food and agriculture wing Danilo Mejio, who had come here in connection with the dissemination of scientific technology of nitrogen pack of litchi among farmers was hurriedly shifted to Muzaffarpur amid tight security.

The post-harvest planning of litchi also suffered a setback in the wake of serious protests by the people of Nawadah village under Mushahri police station.

Director of National Litchi Research Centre Vishal Nath and a host of senior scientists, including Rajesh Kumar and S.K. Purbe, also left the centre in view of the brewing anger of the relatives of the guard.

The district police forwarded Ratnesh’s body to Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital for autopsy.

After the post-mortem was conducted, his relatives laid the body outside the centre and protested against the killing and demand for an early compensation.

When the district police, led by deputy superintendent of police (headquarters) Manish Kumar and sub-divisional magistrate (East) Rajesh Bharti, reached the spot to pacify the anger of the rampaging crowd, they were faced with the wrath of the protesters.

The agitating people demanded for the facilitation of compensation to the kin of the deceased. Later, the deputy superintendent of police, in the presence of sub-divisional magistrate Bharti persuaded the agitators to call off the protest.

The deputy superintendent of police (headquarters) Manish Kumar told The Telegraph there was the involvement of two gangsters in the murder of the guard.

“Two gangsters — Shambhu and Manto — are involved in the killing of Ratnesh. The two masterminded the firing in which the guard was killed. The fight is related to the ongoing construction work inside the National Litchi Research Centre. Three tenders of Rs 3 crore was procured by a Patna-based contractor Sahjendra Singh. He became the target of Shambhu and Manto as they wanted to extort money by intimidating and creating terror,” Kumar said.