In a shocking case of arrogance coupled with sheer disregard for the law of the land, a youth shot a teenager late on Saturday night in Gaya because the boy dared to overtake his Sports Utility Vehicle.
The culprit Rocky Yadav, son of a history-sheeter father and JD(U) legislator mother, is on the run since the incident and Gaya was rocked by protests on Sunday over the return of “jungle raj” in the State.
The shocking incident took place when the victim, 17-year-old Aditya Sachdeva, a student of Class XI and son of a local trader Sardar Shyam Sachdev, was returning home from Bodh Gaya with a few friends in his Maruti Swift after attending a birthday party.
Rocky, son of Bindi Yadav and MlC Manorma Devi, was travelling in his land Rover with his mother’s official bodyguard, when Aditya’s car overtook him. This enraged Rocky so much that he overtook the car, ordered the boys to come out and assaulted them. When the terrified teenagers tried to escape the onslaught, Rocky began firing at them from behind and one bullet hit Aditya in the head.
One of Aditya’s friends, who was with him at the time of the tragedy, said, “Rocky and the security guard started firing in the air when our car overtook them. Then they overtook us and we stopped. They forced us to get out of the car and punched us repeatedly. We were very scared and when we tried to escape they began firing at us again and one bullet hit Aditya.”
With Rocky absconding, the police picked up his father Bindi Yadav and the MlC’s security guard Rajesh Kumar for interrogation and later arrested them.
Bindi, who has a series of cases against him, including a sedition case for supplying arms and ammunition to Maoists, alleged that it was Aditya and his friends who were in an inebriated condition and tried to assault Rocky, who then took out the revolver to defend himself.
“Rocky had neither friendship nor enmity with Aditya. The service revolver went off accidentally.
But we will follow the rule of law as we are law-abiding people,” he told police.
Gaya SSP Garima Mallik said the police were conducting raids to nab the culprit. However, till going to press the police could not trace Rocky.
The incident has sparked outrage in the city with the Opposition raising the issue of the return of jungle raj in the State, even as the ruling party leaders asserted that the law would not spare anybody.
JD(U) national general secretary KC Tyagi said law is equal for all and would not allow anyone to go scot free. He said that earlier also ruling alliance legislators were caught on the wrong foot and had been taken to task.
BJP leader and leader of Opposition Prem Kumar, who represents Gaya constituency, and came out in support of the people protesting the incident, alleged that the crime graph was shooting up and incidents involving ruling alliance legislators and their wards were increasing by the day.