A mob on Monday torched a private hospital, a motorcycle showroom and multiple cars and bikes at Maharajganj in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich over the delay in the arrest of the killers of a young man during a Durga idol immersion procession on Sunday.
Twenty-four-year-old Ram Gopal Mishra was allegedly dragged away from the procession at Rehua Mansoor village under Hardi police station, thrashed and shot dead on Sunday night.
People who saw Ram being dragged away had tried to intervene and save him, leading to a clash in which 13 people sustained injuries and are under treatment.
Rajan Kumar, 28, one of the eyewitnesses, claimed that as the procession reached Maharajganj, Abdul Hamid, Abdul Sablu, Mohammad Sarfaraz and Mohammad Fahim accosted them and tried to prevent them from proceeding further. However, a Muslim youth claimed on the condition of anonymity that those in the procession had thrown gulal on the quartet.
“Both sides started pelting stones at each other and in the ensuing chaos, some people dragged Ram to one side,” a youth said.