A day after a prominent businessman of Sitamarhi town was beaten to death by unidentified criminals, a group of residents indulged in vandalism and stone pelting on Monday.

The police charged protesters with batons to disperse them.

Police said Nagendra Singh (60), a departmental storeowner, was allegedly abducted and murdered by unidentified persons at Nazirganj in Sitamarhi town while he was returning home late on Sunday night. Singh was struck on the head with a heavy blunt object that instantly killed him. The deceased’s hands and feet were tied with ropes and the body was dumped in a field.

The men-in-uniform had to face residents’ wrath on reaching the spot to take the body for post-mortem on Monday morning. The residents had blocked the road near Dumra and paralysed the traffic for around two hours.

Dumra police station house officer (SHO) Harishchandra Thakur said: “The incident took place when Singh was en route from his shop at Lagma to his home at Azamgarh Balua. The reason behind the crime is yet to be ascertained.”

The SHO said an FIR had been lodged against unidentified persons on the statement of the deceased’s son, Dheeraj, alias Bablu. Police didn’t rule out business rivalry as one of the reasons behind the incident.

Criminals in net

Patna police on Monday nabbed two persons involved in at least 11 cases of loot and snatchings in the city.

The men, identified as Asfar Khan and Sahbad Khan, both residents of Samanpura under Shastri Nagar police station, had been evading the police for two years.

Patna superintendent of police Shivdeep Lande said: “Two weeks ago, a businessman was shot at in Shastri Nagar and two men looted money and other valuables from him. We were investigating the case, when the duo were nabbed in the same connection.Interrogation of the duo will follow. We hope that they give police information about many other unsolved cases.”