india

Updated: Mar 02, 2017 15:46 IST

A physically-challenged eyewitness in a murder case was burnt alive in Bihar’s Gaya district, 107km from Patna, late on Tuesday night.

The incident took place at Narawat village in Atari police station area, about 40 km from Gaya.

Police said victim Upendra Pandey, 46, was to depose in a Gaya district court on Wednesday in connection with the murder case. An FIR lodged by Pandey’s wife Chinta Devi with Atari police station had named five persons as accused, the police added.

Chinta Devi said she had gone to Gaya to purchase some medicines for her husband when the incident took place. When she reached home on Wednesday morning she found the burnt body of her husband, Chinta Devi told reporters.

Pandey was an eyewitness in a murder case and the accused had been mounting pressure on him to stay away from the case, she said, adding that her husband was to appear in the Gaya district court on Wednesday.

Chinta Devi said her husband was attacked about five years back also. “He was brutally assaulted and the right part of his body was paralysed,” she added.

A police team, led by Atari sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Vijay Kumar, which reached Pandey’s house had to face villagers ire. However, the SDPO managed to pacify the villagers and sent the body for post-mortem examination.

Meanwhile, the police have launched a massive manhunt to arrest the named accused who are said to have gone into hiding.