The Wednesday morning started with shocking news for the denizens of Ichak block headquarters. At 9 am, five bike-borne men stopped a Mahindra Quanto at block office and after a brief hot discussion, opened fire at Raj Kishor Mahto, a resident of village Gunja of Ichak block.
The locals immediately rushed him to Sadar Hospital Hazaribagh where Dr RK Jaiswal operated him.
Three bullets — one each from head, stomach and shoulder were removed immediately. After sometime, when Mahto returned to conscious state, his statement was recorded by the police in presence of executive magistrate Anant Kumar.
In his statement, Mahto informed that he was on his way to Hazaribagh. Due to less space near block office, his vehicle slowed down and in the mean time, five persons came in front of the vehicle.
He named Manoj Kumar Mehta of village Mangura as the leader with whom his dispute was going on from last few months.
Mahto said that Manoj, Roshan, Krisna and two others; whom he failed to identify opened fire on him, saying that you have not taken our ultimatum seriously so now face the punishment. later, he was referred to RIMS Ranchi for further treatment.
After recording Mahto’s statement, police with the help of some villagers started the search operation to nab the culprits.
In the evening, the villagers caught the main accused Manoj and beaten him mercilessly. later, the police intervened and saved him from the mob. Now, Manoj is undergoing treatment in Ichak referral hospital in police custody.
According to the sources, a business rivalry led to the attck on Mahto. Both Raj Kishor and Manoj run stone chips business.
Mahto is the owner of a stone mine situated in Sadam village of the block.
Sources said that he is enjoying this ownership without any legal document. Manoj was trying since last one year to have 50 per cent area of this mine on the basis of same illegal papers for which Raj Kishor was not ready.