ITANAGAR, March 16 � Tension prevails in the otherwise somnolent Naharlagun township following the ghastly killing of a businessman in a pre-dawn burglary attempt by a group of four unidentified miscreants on March 15.
The traders kept the shutters of their shops closed for the second day today in protest against the killing. However, Arunachal Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu has appealed to traders not to put their shutters down, saying that police is on the look out to nab the culprits.
The local traders made their stand clear that the police and the local administration must arrest the culprits or else their agitation will continue till their demand is fulfilled, informed sources said.
Apart from this, the traders of Itanagar, Naharlagun, Nirjuli, Doimukh and Banderdewa under the banner of Arunachal Chamber of Commerce and Industries along with the local market committees served an ultimatum to the State Government to bring the culprits to book by March 18 failing which they would launch a 12-hour capital bandh on March 19.
Rajendra Chaudhury, the owner of Logun Hardware, was shot dead by four masked armed men, who entered into his shop at G-Extension, Naharlagun at around 3 am on March 15. The criminals broke open the shutter with a crowbar and fired twice from close range when the 48-year-old, a native of Sujangarh in Rajasthan, raised alarm to prevent them from looting his shop. In the incident, one of the staffers of the shop, Kamal Kishore, also sustained serious head injury.
Itanagar SP Hibu Tamang told this correspondent that a five-member special investigation team, headed by the Itanagar sub divisional police officer (SDPO) B S Mehra has been constituted to probe the killing of Rajendra Chaudhury.
The SP, who is personally supervising the investigation process, further said that police patrolling has been intensified in and around the State capital, apart from sealing all the entry and exit points of the State. The police is working round the clock to nab the culprits as early as possible, Tamang added.
Taking a serious note of the shocking incident, Chief Minister Khandu termed it as �very unfortunate� and �cowardice act�. He assured the business community that the State Government would leave no stone unturned to nab the culprits involved in the heinous crime.
The State Police and the para-military forces have been put in the job to trace the whereabouts of the miscreants, said the Chief Minister, while appealing the business community not to put their shutters down as the government is putting all out efforts to nab the culprits.
The ruling Congress strongly condemned the murder of the trader and appealed to the DGP Vimla Mehra to intensify night patrolling in the State capital to thwart such criminal activities.
The AAPSU has also condemned the murder and urged the government to take �corrective measures� in providing security to the capital dwellers, citing that fear psychosis has gripped the State capital with back to back criminal activities occurring here.
