With tension prevailed in Balia after a Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) supporter died during party workers clashed with police while protesting the arrest of five persons on charges of cow smuggling in Narhi area on Friday night, the local administration registered a case against the local BJP MlA Upendra Tewari. Heavy police force has been also deployed in the area while 6 persons have been arrested so far. Heavy police force has been deployed in the area to avert any further untoward incident.
“We have registered cases against BJP MlA Upendra Tiwari, 35 named and 300 unnamed accused under various sections of IPC and six persons have been arrested”, confirmed Superintendent of Police in Balia Manoj Kumar Jha. He said the MlA and his supporters sat on dharna before Narhi police station and clashed with police on Friday night in protest against the arrest and pelted stones when authorities tried to evict them. Police then lobbed teargas shells and fired rubber bullets to disperse the irate crowd, he said.
District BJP chief Binod Dubey alleged that police used batons and opened fire at the party workers leading to the death of Vinod Rai and injury to 50 others which included critical injury to Munna Rai. However, Jha refuted the charge saying the worker did not die in firing as police did not open fire and said the reason behind his death would be known only after getting post-mortem report.
Though the SP said the MlA was absconding, Dubey claimed that he was seriously injured in the police action and was undergoing treatment in a hospital. Heavy police force has been deployed to bring the situation under control and a magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the incident.