Our Bureau/

Even when science  has become the option in every steps of lives, century old social sins still thriving at Naugachia, a sub-division of Bhagalpur. Sandwiched between furious Ganga and Kosi rivers this sub division earlier in 1992 had given a status of separate police district with a superintendent of police to counter crime, mainly brutal murders !

Two persons including a child alive in the name of witch-haunting recently has rocked the entire areas. Land dispute is said to be main reason behind the incident in the crime-ravaged Naugachia police district. Police yet not managed to nab the main culprits, except an aged women for her possible involvement in this heinous crime.

Chandra Dev Singh (55) and his 4 year grandson, Sanjit who was sleeping inside the hut along with another 10-year old boy, died due to maximum burnt injury. The 10 year-old  boy however was managed to escape as he woke up from sleep when some persons were pouring petrol and set the hut on fire on the mid night of October 13. The incident had taken place at Sripur village under Naugachia town PS.

Naugachia SP, Pankaj Sinha told that one Usha Devi, a middle aged woman in Sripur village under Naugachia police district however arrested by the police whose husband Ganesh Singh along with Mukhiya of the Panchyat,  Mahil Singh is the main accused in the case. All the accused in the case however have been absconding along with their family members. The accused allegedly set the hurt of Chandra Dev Singh (55) on  fire while pouring petrol on the mid night of October 13. The intension was to kill Bindu Devi (49), wife of the deceased for alleged practice of black magic.  There was a land dispute between the two parties. Co-incidentally, Ganesh’s wife fell ill soon after the dispute and  Ganesh alleged Bindu for making his wife ill by her black magic, Sinha said.

Amrit Singh, son of the deceased in the FIR alleged that earlier before Durga Puja, Ganesh and Mahil Singh threatened her mother, Bindu Devi with dire consequences. Amrit, a daily wage labour at Chandigarh, who recently came to the village to celebrate Diwali with his family, lost his 4 year son, Sanjit in the incident. Bindu Devi luckily managed to escape but her husband  Chandra Dev and grandson Sanjit who were sleeping inside of the hut  developed 100 percent burnt injury and rushed to JLNMC hospital, Bhagalpur. Chandra Dev succumbed to his fatal injury at the hospital while little Sanjit died last late evening at the hospital also.

SP, Naugachia, Pankaj Sinha  however said that there was not a single eyewitness in the incident but since the accused earlier threatened Bindu Devi with dire consequences, Ganesh and Mukhiya of Sripur Panchyat, Mahil was under police radar. “ A 10 year-old boy who was sleeping in the hut and subsequently escaped, told police that he woke up from sleep on that night after felling some liquid on his body”, said Sinha  told while adding that the police has initiated manhunt for nabbing the accused soon”.

“The inaccessible topography of the region along with the fertile lands is the reasons of crime while the vagaries of Nature has made the people so ruthless,” remarked a top ranking cop. He however claimed that effective policing has somehow managed to reduce the crime graphs within last 2-3 years.

“Earlier the criminals used to chop people into pieces. Brutal murder of Pritam Bhattacharya was done in Naugachia which rocked the nation. And police always blame the topography just to hide its inefficiency,” commented Dinesh Kumar, a lawyer at Naugachia court.