CHAUPARAN, AUG 30: Chauparan is still to recover from yesterday's police firing that resulted in the death of five people.At the centre of the controversy is Uma Shanker Sudhanshu, the DY SP of the Chauparan police station in Hazaribagh district, who ordered the firing.Hours after the firing, Sudhanshu was summoned to Patna. Angry townsmen say it was to hush up the case. ``We are inquiring into the case. The guilty, if there are any, will not be spared,'' Chotanagpur IG Rameshwar Oraon told The Indian Express.But angry townsmen are asking why the police opened fire and why they haven't arrested the `two culprits' who had slit the throat of Usha Devi after raping her?Devi, 32, wife of Shatrughan Dangi, a resident of Belgaon villageunder the Chauparan police station, was allegedly raped and killed by ``twomen belonging to the minority community.'' The duo belonged to a village near Belgaon. ``To hide their identity they had slit her throat after raping her,'' said Oraon.According to Shatrughan, after he lodged a FIR at the Chauparan police station accusing the the duo of the crime, Sudhanshu intervened. ``Instead of taking action against them he accused me of killing my wife,'' said Shatrughan.Incidentally, the autopsy report released on Monday negated Shatrughan's version of the rape. This triggered a chain reaction. The villagers were divided on communal lines. However, a majority of them believed Shatrughanand suspected the police of `fabricating' the autopsy report.About 5,000 men, women and children staged a demonstration at Chauparan last afternoon. While the demonstration was being addressed by the local leaders demanding arrest of Devi's rapists/killers, Sudhanshu reached the spot with a section of the armed police force. ``Dy SP ordered them to disperse. This provoked the villagers. They resisted and later started pelting stones on the police and the Dy SP. Then, instead of ordering the lathi charge, he ordered the policemen to open fire,'' says an eyewitness. ``Dy SP saheb didn't even take permission from the Magistrate to order the firing,''said a constable.Today, Chauparan was deserted as the shops remained closed in protest against the firing. A shopkeeper said: ``We will put up an indefinite dharna on the GT road if the Dy SP was not dismissed soon.''
