Man beats to death younger brother over unpaid electricity bill dispute in Madhepura

Madhepura: A man beat up his younger brother to death after a minor family feud turned fatal at ward no-5 of Ratanpura village under Ghailardh police station area in Madhepura district on Friday night.

The deceased was identified as Shyam Yadav (40).According to police, Shyam's elder brother, Umakant Yadav, became enraged during the dispute. In a fit of anger, he along with his in-laws allegedly attacked Shyam with a blunt object, inflicting severe head injuries. Local residents rushed him to the nearby primary health centre (PHC), but doctors declared him dead on arrival. The victim, second among four brothers, had been living in a joint property.

Although the brothers had been living separately for some time, they continued to share a single electricity connection. A dispute arose over an unpaid electricity bill of Rs10,000, said youngest brother, Babloo Yadav. The eldest brother, Umakant Yadav, refused to contribute towards the payment, which led to a heated argument between him and the victim, he said.

Babloo further said that Umakant's wife invited their father and other brothers to her home with the intention of teaching Shyam a lesson.

During the altercation, the victim's mother, Satyabhama Devi, and father, Prayag Yadav, also sustained injuries while trying to protect him. At the time of the incident, the victim was alone at the house as his wife had gone to her parental house to celebrate Raksha Bandhan.Upon receiving information about the incident, Ghailardh SHO Suraj Kumar Bharti along with police personnel reached the spot and sent the victim's body to Sadar hospital in Madhepura for postmortem. "An appropriate action will be taken against the attackers once a formal complaint is filed by the victim's family," he added.