Bhadrak: A grocery shop owner died after being assaulted by an irate customer here Wednesday. The deceased was identified as Bijay Panda who ran a grocery shop at Patharadi Chowk under Town Police limits here. As he did every day, Bijay opened his shop Wednesday morning at around 10.00 am. Soon, a customer identified as Kamesh, came to the shop to buy certain items, the total bill for which was Rs 180. However, Kamesh only paid Rs 140. This infuriated Bijay, who demanded that the remaining Rs 40 be paid immediately. A heated argument broke out between the two during which Kamesh allegedly landed a couple of blows on Bijay and then pushed him.
As Bijay fell, his head thudded against the hard floor and he lost consciousness. Locals immediately rushed Bijay to the district headquarters hospital here where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival. The accused Kamesh meanwhile fled the scene and till the time of writing this copy, he is absconding. Senior police officials visited the spot and initiated a probe. An FIR has been lodged and efforts are on to trace Kamesh and arrest him, police said. A relative of the deceased informed that the accused is a resident of Ward No 2 and is a renowned anti-social. “We have come to know that the accused had abused my uncle (Bijay) and hit him. We want exemplary punishment against the accused,” said the relative.
