 |  | | Basant Soren (right in picture top) speaks to the brother of Amit Manjhi (below) in Bokaro on Sunday. Picture by Pankaj Singh |
Bokaro, Feb. 12: A JMM student wing leader was shot dead in the steel city late last evening in what appears to be the fallout of a long-drawn land dispute. Police have arrested three land brokers, including a former neighbour who had made threat calls to the victim's brother a couple of days ago. Thirty-year-old Amit Manjhi — the district president of Jharkhand Chhatra Morcha — was returning home to Sector XII from the local market around 9pm, when unidentified gunmen accosted him. They managed to pump in three bullets, while the fourth missed target and shattered the rear view mirror of Amit's motorcycle. The body was found around 10.30pm, within 100 metres of the bike and 300 metres from Manjhi's Adarsh Co-operative Colony residence. Karamchand Manjhi, a railway employee and elder brother of the deceased, said police knocked on their door around dinnertime yesterday. "They said they had found Amit's bike near the colony and asked whether he was home. I accompanied the policemen to search for my brother who had just gone to the market. Half an hour later, we found him. Dead, caked in blood," Karamchand said. The youth had received three bullets — in the head, the left hand and the waist. His mobile phone was missing. In his complaint, Karamchand named three land brokers — Pintu Singh, Manoj Pandey and Virendra Yadav. "Two days ago, I had received a call on my cellphone from Pintu. He was our neighbour five years ago. Pintu asked me to tell Amit not to 'interfere with other's affairs' or he will be 'taught a lesson'," he said in the complaint. "My brother used to help the poor and had fought for their rights, some that involved land, which many did not like," Karamchand added. Bokaro DSP Anil Shankar confirmed the three arrests on the basis of the complaint, but said the trio had clammed up. "So, it is not clear if they had shot Amit or hired killers to do the job or are innocent," he said. Meanwhile, the killing has triggered widespread resentment in the JMM camp, with a delegation led by student wing state president Basant Soren, the youngest son of former chief minister Shibu Soren, meeting SP Kuldeep Dwivedi and demanding immediate arrest of the culprits. Senior JMM leader and Dumri MLA Jagannath Mahto has, on the other hand, publicly warned of an agitation if the police failed to act in 24 hours. SP Dwivedi is known to have assured the aggrieved leaders of prompt action. He told mediapersons that raids were being conducted in various parts of the district in this connection. | 
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