The body of a man, reportedly missing from December 15 evening, was recovered from a pond in Gandhajor here on Sunday.

The deceased was identified as Subhash Rai, 42, a resident of Gandhajor locality under Chas police station area, and someone who had a criminal background.

Town DSP of Bokaro Gyan Ranjan said local residents spotted a body floating in the pond, barely 100 metres from Rai’s house, and informed Chas police. The police recovered the body for post-mortem.

However, Rai’s family members, including his wife Saraswati Devi, alleged that he had been killed by the police and his body was later dumped in the pond.

A source said that when the police arrived at the locality on Sunday, people protested noisily against the men in uniform, some even hurling stones at them. In the chaos, 10 policemen, including the Chas police station officer-in-charge received minor injuries through stone-pelting.

Contacted, Bokaro superintendent of police P. Murugan said Rai had a criminal background and had recently been released from jail.

“We are investigating the case from all possible angles. We are also probing whether more then one person was involved in the killing of the deceased,” the SP said.

Fatal illegal mining

Illegal coal mining near the CCL’s Swang washery here claimed its latest victim, a youth, on Saturday evening. Golden Prasad a.k.a. Shakti Kapoor Prasad, a resident of Patwa Basti under Gomia police station in Bokaro, was crushed to death when the roof of the mine from where he was extracting illegal coal fell on him.

The collapse led to panic among other villagers engaged in illegal mining. Policeman Binay Kumar recovered Golden’s body and sent it for post-mortem at the Tenughat subdivision hospital.

Extraction of coal is rampant in several closed mines in the area.The CCL has declared about a dozen mines dangerous and stopped mining activities in them, but has not plugged closed mines with sand.