Sunsari/Jul 3

A team of five soldiers of Kaptangunj Company Karki under Batuk Dal Battalion including Captain Chhatra Jung has been accused of thrashing seven locals on July 1 night. The soldiers said to have thrashed Ganga Prasad Mehata, 30, Santosh Mehata, 27, Dilip Mehata, 35 and Ganesh Mehata, 32 of Kaptangunj VDC-3 in an inebriated state. The other locals thrashed are Ananta Lal Mehata, 45 and Rupdev Mehata, 28, of Kaptangunj VDC-4 and Deepak Mehata, 22, of Devangunj VDC-3. Umesh Prasad Mehata, 32, of Kaptangunj VDC-3 said that the soldiers came in the village drunk and thrashed the villagers and also fired six rounds of bullets, terrorizing the villagers. The villagers met CDO Rabilal Pantha on July 2 asking for action against the soldiers claiming the victims were just unloading the materials at around 9 pm at an iron workshop. Pantha said that the army was requested to investigate the issue as it was an internal issue of the army adding the locals had brought the bullet covers which will be verified through investigation. Batuk Dal Battalion commander Shyam Khadka said that he had visited the site and learnt that there was a minor scuffle only.

Shekhar Dhakal