SARLAHI, Nov 1: The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) has blamed police indifference for Tuesday’s Sarlahi clash between the cadres of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and the NC that saw one NC cadre gunned down and seven injured.

In the incident that occurred Tuesday morning, a local NC cadre Ram Bilas Mahato, 55, of Ramnagar-4 was shot dead and several villagers were injured allegedly by NCP cadres. Seven other NC cadres sustained shrapnel wounds. The NCP cadres were said to be settling old scores.

According to a local youth leader Rakesh Gupta, the group which had beaten upward-4 Chairman Ram Naresh Mahato on Monday showed up at the chairman’s village early on Tuesday. “We tried to intervene but they had come with full preparations, with firearms. We could not do anything,” he said. The agitating group had accused the chairman of allocating development budget unilaterally and thrashed him for the same reason. The deceased Ram Bilas was the uncle of the ward chair.

“Had police promptly taken action against the group involved in thrashing the ward chair, the incident would not have taken place. Inaction from police provided them further encouragement and led to the tragic incident,” said Rakesh.

The Khaiwra Police Post in just one kilometer away from the incident site while Area Police Office, Gadahiya Dumariya is five kilometers away. However, security bodies failed to take any measure to prevent the incident. 

NC lawmaker Amaresh Kumar Singh addressing a rally at Ramnagar on Wednesday said the incident took place with the support from the ruling party.

“A day ago, the ward chairman was beaten up mercilessly and a day later his uncle was killed. Yet, police authorities are keeping mum and showing indifference,” he said.

 
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