According to the case diary, on January 28, 2008, while Ram Pragat was going to the market, a jeep belonging to Mahabir Prasad hit him in Shihajipar area in Gorakhpur.

Jeep driver Ram Badan, Baijnath and two other unidentified persons picked up an injured Pragat and put him in the jeep. Two eyewitnesses, Manjul Shahi and Anand Shahi, told Vinod Kumar Barniwal, who was then Investigating Officer, that they had seen Baijnath putting Pragat in the jeep. The next day, Pragat’s body was found in a field, about 5 km from the accident spot.

The driver, in his statement, said they had wanted to take Pragat to a hospital but panicked when he died on the way and threw the body in the fields. He hasn’t named the two other persons who were also in the jeep.

Gorakhpur DIG Aditya Mishra said they have called Baijnath for questioning. However, he is away in Delhi. “We have conveyed our message,” said Rajendra Singh, Circle Officer, Gorakhpur, who is now investigating the case. The scrutiny of the case diary has opened up a Pandora’s Box, with most details lacking veractiy. The police is now planning to question those who figure in the diary.

IO Rajendra Singh has stated that some of the facts have been found incorrect. For example, Pragat was taken to hospital in a tempo, and not a jeep, and tempo driver Manish had admitted this, he says. Manish has told the police that he was passing by the accident spot when Baijnath and three other persons stopped him to take the injured man to hospital, said the IO. However, he refused to share other details given by Manish.