Ghazipur was rocked by the sensational daylight killing of a sitting Gram Pradhan, who was sprayed with bullets for refusing to compromise with the killers of his brother.
Angered with the killing, local villagers staged a massive demonstration and also torched the house of the accused family, who had fled after the killing. The protesters also demanded action against the apathetic police team.
As per reports, Gram Pradhan of Hiravanpur village in Saidpur (Ghazipur) Nandlal Yadav was going with his nephew Pappu Singh Yadav when three armed men accosted them near Narayanpur Kakrahi roundabout on Wednesdaymorning.
Before Nandlal could sense trouble, all three opened fire peppering the duo with bullets. While Nandlal died on the spot, his nephew was seriously injured and was rushed to Varanasi where his condition was stated to be critical.
The news of Nandlal's death spread and soon, hundreds of villagers converged at the spot and blocked the main road. They also attacked the house of the accused and on finding the members missing, they torched the house.
SP, Ram Kishore Verma later said that an old rivalry was the reason behind the killing. On December 21, 2008, Nandlal’s brother Vishnu Yadav (the then sitting pradhan) was fatally sprayed with bullets in which Nandlal was a prime witness. He had named Anil Yadav, lalta Yadav, Sudhir Yadav, Thesildar Yadav, Mulayam Yadav and Ramjanam Yadav as the executors who were arrested and jailed. later all but Mulayam and Anil came out on vail.
The police said that the case of Vishnu's killing was on trial and the accused were pressuring Nandlal to strike a truce or face the music. The police suepct that to prevent Nandlal from giving statement vefore the trial magistrate, the accused bumped him off as all other witnesses have turned hostile fearing for their lives. The police is making efforts to nab the killers.