Patna, Jan. 16: The state government has ordered a high-level inquiry into the circumstances leading to the death of 25-year-old youth Manoj Kumar Yadav, whose body was found four days after he was allegedly taken into custody for interrogation in connection with a murder case.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar today said home secretary Amir Subhani and additional director-general of police (headquarters) Ravinder Kumar would probe the death, which led to public outcry in Nawada town on Sunday.

Police opened fire in the air yesterday to disperse a mob that pelted stones at the residence of the district magistrate and the superintendent of police.

Nitish directed the two officials to visit Nawada and submit a report to the government at the earliest.

The station house officer of Nawada Town police station, Dinesh Choudhary, has been transferred to the police control room. “When an inquiry has been ordered by the government, there is no point allowing the officer in question to continue in his post at the same police station,” Nawada superintendent of police S.L. Das said.

An FIR has been lodged against Choudhary and four other police officials, including sub-divisional police officer of Nawada Sanjay Kumar Singh on the basis of the statement of the deceased youth’s father, Dayanand Yadav. The three other police officials made accused in the FIR are B.K. Mishra, Raj Kumar and Raja (all sub-inspectors).

Dayanand, in his complaint, alleged that his son Manoj was picked up by police officials posted at Nawada Town police station on January 11 for interrogation in connection with the murder of businessman Sanjay Burnawal. Initially, the SHO did not allow him to talk to his son, who was lodged in the police lock-up. But, Dayanand said, the SHO promised that Manoj would be released after questioning. But on Sunday, his body was recovered from a field adjacent to the railway tracks at Minapur.

“The veracity of the statement of the deceased’s father will be ascertained,” the SP said, adding that the post-mortem was conducted under the supervision of a medical board and it was video-recorded. “The guidelines of the National Human Rights Commission with regard to custodial death have been followed strictly,” Das added.

Section 144 of the CrPC was clamped in Nawada yesterday following a mob attack on the official residence of the district magistrate in protest against the death of the 25-year-old youth. People went berserk learning about the death of Manoj. The police had to open fire in the air to disperse the mob. No casualty was reported.

The trouble started around 2.30pm when a team of Nawada Town police station personnel reached Minapur to take possession of the youth’s body. As the news about the death spread, a large number of people assembled at the spot where his body was found.

When the police tried to send the body for post-mortem, the residents started pelting stones. Three cops were injured. The policemen had to make a hasty retreat as the protesters outnumbered them.

The protesters later arrived at the residence of the district magistrate, Divesh Sehra, and shouted slogans against the administration alleging that Manoj died in police custody after third degree was applied by the men in uniform to elicit information about the murder of Sanjay Burnawal, a businessman who was shot dead on September 30 last year.

The mob pelted stones at the residence of Sehra and forced the shop owners of the nearby market to down their shutters. Apprehending that the situation might go out of control, the police resorted to lathicharge. As the protesters were in no mood to budge, the police had to open fire in the air to disperse the mob.