RAJ KUMAR
Lohardaga, Feb.23: The National Highway-75 which connects Kudu and Chandwa with Ranchi remained blocked in Kudu locality of Lohardaga district for several hours as the people protested against murder of a hotel owner Pradeep Kumar (51).
The development took place after the body of Kumar, who went missing since last night around 10pm, was recovered with injuries of a sharp-edged weapon on head and other parts of the body.
Lohardaga SP R Ramkumar did not take call for his comment on the situation. A locality resident said attempts were on to pacify the agitating local residents demanding identification and arresting of the person involved in the murder without any delay.
“Kumar used to run Hotel Shiv Shakti. Unidentified criminal killed him with a sharp weapon and escaped dumping his body near Dhuluvakhunta, just half a kilometer away from the police station. After the dead body of the hotelier was found, sensation spread in the police station area. Angered by this incident, the villagers blocked the road at three places in the urban area. All the shops in the urban area were closed. The police and administrative officials who reached the spot are trying to pacify the angry villagers. National Highway 75 Kudu-Chandwa and Kudu-Ranchi main roads have been jammed for the last three hours,” the resident said, informing about the situation.
Giving background of the incident, the resident said: “Kumar used to reside at Block More. He was walking back to his house from a wedding ceremony organized near Block More at 10 pm. He was talking to someone over the phone while walking. After this, he went missing. The relatives searched for him in the night but could not find. The matter was reported to the Kudu police station at around eight in the morning. As the police were planning how to deal with the case, a police official got information about a body. Later it was identified as that of the missing hotelier.”
“Police reached the spot and took the body into custody. As the matter spread, villagers got angry and blocked the road. SDPO Vashishtha Narayan Singh accompanied by police Inspector Mantu Kumar, BDO Manoranjan Kumar, CO Praveen Kumar Singh, station in-charge Vishwajeet Kumar Singh reached the spot,” the resident added.
