Patna, April 28: An 18-year-old youth was hanged to death at a village in Araria district for his suspected romance with the daughter of an influential farmlord, the Taliban-like public execution a chilling reminder of the deep-rooted divisions within Bihar’s feudal hinterlands which continue to plague the state.

The chain of events that led to the killing of Pintu Yadav was triggered on April 14 when Daizy Kumari, the 15-year-old daughter of farmlord Baleshwar Yadav, went missing from her home in Jharkahan village under Forbesganj subdivision of Araria, about 280km east of Patna, near the Nepal border.

Pintu’s father Chhabu Yadav, who has been looking after Baleshwar’s farm for the past 15 years, has lodged a complaint with the Narpatganj police station against 13 persons, including his master. They have been made accused under Sections 302 (murder), 34 (common intension) and 120 (B) (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. Two of the accused are candidates for the panchayat elections, currently under way in the state. None of those named in the complaint has been arrested as, according to the police, they are “absconding”.

Purnea deputy inspector-general of police Amit Kumar said he could not get time to inquire into the matter. “I am pre-occupied with the panchayat polls. So I could not get time to look into the case,” he said.

Baleshwar, a powerful farmer with political connections, suspected the involvement of Pintu in his daughter’s disappearance but, strangely, he did not inform the police that she could not be found. Pintu once worked as a domestic help in the farmlord’s house but had since shifted to Punjab where he was employed with a private company.

Pintu and Daizy, sources in the village said, had got into a relationship which was objected to by the girl’s family because of their “social standing”. The sources said the two kept in touch even after Pintu moved out of the state.

Baleshwar, the police complaint says, asked Chhabu to summon his son from Punjab immediately. Pintu reached Jharkahan on April 21 on the request of his parents. Once there, he, along with his father, was taken to the house of Baleshwar’s relative Tipu Yadav at nearby Khairbanna village, seven kilometres away, on a motorcycle and interrogated there for several hours about the whereabouts of Daizy.

After initial questioning, Chhabu was let off by Baleshwar’s henchmen and asked to go home. After he left, the complaint says, Pintu was severely tortured in the house.

Later in the night, the lad was taken to a hut used as cattle shed, where, the police complaint says, he was hanged to death in “full public view”. “I have been told that my son was hanged from a scaffolding made out of bamboo sticks. The entire village watched while Baleshwar’s men carried out the execution,” Chhabu told the police.

When Pintu did not return home, Chhabu started a search for him. The next day (April 23), he came to know that Pintu had been murdered and his body dumped in a field on the outskirts of Khairbanna village. However, he could not muster the courage to go to Khairbanna alone.

The perpetrators of the heinous crime then apparently decided that a message had to be sent. Like the dreaded Chambal dacoit gangs who displayed the bodies of their victims, Pintu’s body was bundled into a gunny bag, loaded on a tractor and driven to his house.

The Narpatganj police took the body in their possession and sent it for post mortem. Forbesganj sub-divisional police officer R.K. Sharma said the autopsy report suggested suffocation as the cause of death. “A black (dark) mark around the neck of the youth has been found, which indicates he was hanged to death,” Sharma said. Police sources said a rope has been recovered from near the cow shed which may have been used to hang Pintu.

Sharma said 13 persons have been made accused in the FIR (No. 102/11). “The accused are absconding after the incident. Intensive raids are on to apprehend them,” he said. The girl though is still missing. “The local police have not yet received any complaint with regard to the missing girl,” Sharma said.

Sources said two of the accused — Uday Yadav and Dhirendra Yadav — are candidates for the panchayat elections scheduled for May 6 in the region. While Uday is a mukhiya candidate, Dhirendra is fighting for the post of sarpanch. “We are keeping a close tab on their movement. They will be arrested soon,” Sharma said.