The gunman had actually targeted Ram Pukar Yadav, Secretary of Sakhuwa Rampukar VDC of Dhanusha. Yadav, also the Dhanusha chapter president of the VDC Secretaries Welfare Protection Forum, luckily survived. However, the bullet hit Amit´s abdomen. [break]
A faction of Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha (JTMM) led by Rajan Mukti has claimed responsibility for the incident. Acting president of the outfit Manoj Mukti, who contacted a few local journalists, said his outfit had targeted Yadav but Amit became the victim.
Mukti even claimed that the latest politburo meeting of his party, which was held between June 7 and 10 had decided to ´take action´ against Yadav for allegedly “spying” on them at behest of Chief District Officer (CDO) of Dhanusha. He even accused Yadav of being the leader of corruption racket.
Amit was the youngest son of Ram. Originally a resident of Malhaniya of Siraha, Ram had been living in Janakpur with his two sons, a daughter and wife.
This is the third case of murder in Janakpur in the last three days. On Thursday evening, Office Secretary at Dhanusha Development Committee (DDC) Shiva Narayan Bhandari was shot dead by a group of unidentified gunmen. Earlier on Wednesday, Ram Ishwar Shah, of Janakpur-1, was shot dead.
While the Mukti-led faction of JTMM has owned up the murder of Bhandari, the perpetrator of Shah´s killing remains unknown.
The recent spate of murders has made locals in the area fearful. In response to their call for beefing up security, Superintend of Police (SP) Sarbendra Khanal has claimed to have ordered security personnel to stay on high alert.
According to him, 14 persons have been arrested in the past week for possessing weapons. He claimed that the police have already identified those involved in the murders.
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