Even as the Gorakhpur police struggled to arrest some police personnel accused of murdering a Kanpur realtor during a raid at a hotel on Monday, in yet another sensational incident pointing towards deteriorating law and order situation in the district, an employee of a model liquor shop was mercilessly thrashed to death while his colleague was critically injured after being attacked by goons for refusing to serve liquor for free late on Thursday night.
As per reports, Nagendra Pratap Singh of Maharajganj owns a model shop near Vardayani in Ramgarhtal police station area of Gorakhpur and the establishment is managed by his son Manish Singh who was assisted by Manish Prajapati (24) of Panagari in Rewa (Madhya Pradesh).
Late on Thursday night, some customers came to the model shop and asked Prajapati to serve them liquor. As the waiter asked for payment first, one of them introduced himself as the brother of a local history-sheeter and pressured him to bring liquor for free.
When Prajapati expressed his inability to serve liquor without payment, the customer flew into a rage and called some friends over the phone. Soon a group of inebriated youths reached the model shop and created a ruckus.
On being reasoned by Prajapati, they attacked him after which he ran inside the shop to take cover. The unrelenting goons followed him inside the premises and assaulted him with hockey sticks and iron rods. Prajapati’s colleague Raghu of Huzurpur in Bahraich, tried to rescue him but he too was brutally assaulted by the goons.
The accused later left the venue after critically injuring both.The injured were later rushed to a nearby hospital, where Prajapati was pronounced dead while Raghu was referred to a medical college as his condition was critical.
After learning about the incident, cops from Ramgarhtal police station along with ADG (Gorakhpur Zone) Akhil Kumar, IG (Gorakhpur Range) J Ravindra Gaud rushed to the spot. They were taking help of CCTV footage to identify and arrest the assailants.
Akhil Kumar later said that the accused would be booked under National Security Act (NSA). A case was registered in this connection and efforts were underway to identify the assailants and arrest them.