Day 2: Violence continues in Ghazipur, police post set on fire

Today, besides the Shahnina police post, a railway cabin near Karimuddinpur railway station and a few shops were also set ablaze, sources said. A constable’s motorcycle at the police post was also set on fire.

Sources quoted the constable, Shyam Narain Giri, as saying to senior officers: ‘‘Mujhe mara. Motorcycle mein aag laga di…’’ (They thrashed me…set my motorcycle on fire…’’

However, Giri was taken to task for getting himself photographed by cameramen with the burnt vehicle. ‘‘I thought the photographs in newspapers will help me in my insurance claim,’’ Giri was heard explaining, sources said.

CO, Bhurkura, Gyanendra, said six persons have been arrested for the attack on the police post.

The administration and the police have been facing a tough time handling the agitators right from the day of Rai’s killing. Police were not handed over the bodies till 22 hours after the killings. At Gadaur, the native place of the MLA, his supporters did not allow the administration to enter the village, sources said, and added that Rai’s supporters themselves took the bodies to Ghazipur on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, even as the new SP Akhil Kumar took charge of the district this afternoon, police found the Tata Sumo allegedly used in the crime abandoned about 16 km from the spot where the MLA was killed.

Bullet marks on the vehicle indicated there was exchange of fire between the killers and Rai’s men, the sources said.

Shashi Kant Roy, the lone eyewitness, is in Ghazipur hospital. He took five bullets. ‘‘They (the killers) thought I was dead. They took a round of our two vehicles after the operation. I was beneath two bodies. I managed to reach a nearby village…,’’ Shashi Kant, who has been provided police protection told reporters.

Mau MLA’s kin surrenders

GHAZIPUR: Ezaz Ansari, brother-in-law of Mau MLA Mukhtar Ansari, surrendered in a court in Ghazipur on Thursday. Earlier, Ansari’s name had figured in the FIR lodged in connection with the killing of Krishnanand Rai. The name of Mukhtar Ansari and his brother Afzal Ansari, MP from Ghazipur, also figure in the FIR. So far police have failed to make any arrest in connection with the incident.