Dilip Mahato, a 24-year-old youth who had been protesting against illegal mining of riverbed material for two years, was dragged and killed by a tipper truck in the wee hours of Friday. Police have so far arrested four individuals in connection with the murder.

The site of the incident lay 200m away from the Churiyamai Crusher Industry. Once the truck dragged and crushed Mahato to death, the driver of the truck, Munindra Mahato, drove the vehicle back to the industry site, police said. The blood from the killing smeared the trail all the way to the industry. The police have seized the tipper truck and cordoned off the spot where the truck was parked after the alleged murder.

“Security has been deployed at the site of the crusher industry; the area is cordoned off,” SP Ramesh Basnet, chief of Dhanusha Police told the Post. “The investigation will get easier once we receive the results of the blood test.”

Dhanusha Police on Monday sent the blood sample to Nepal Police’s Biddhi Science Lab for a forensic test.

Before Dilip was crushed, he was injured with a lever of the truck, police said after recording statements from the alleged perpetrators. Police have intensified search for the truck’s conductor, who is on the run following the murder.

“It’s apparent that the conductor of the tipper has a hand in planning and attacking Dilip,” SP Basnet said. “We are currently trying to locate him. Once he’s arrested, we will have more details about the incident.”

Police have also said they are investigating the involvement of Shyam Babu Yadav and Roshan Yadav, two of Dilip’s friends who had left along with Dilip from his home in Sripur. “Roshan has given contradictory statements about the incident and Shyam had returned halfway to the industry site—the reasons why they are being suspected of complicity in the case,” police said.

According to Inspector Ramkumar Yadav, who has been investigating the case from the beginning, the owners of the industry, Bipin and Binod Mahato, and the tipper driver were inebriated with alcohol since the preceding night. Bottles of alcohol, snacks, and used utensils have been discovered in one room of the industry’s block. “When Dilip was spotted at the site, the inebriated owners warned him saying, ‘If only you disturb us…’ and then proceeded to hit him with the lever of the truck,” inspector Yadav said. “When Dilip collapsed on the floor, Bipin incited the tipper driver to run the vehicle over Dilip’s body, offering him a bribe of Rs50,000. He even assured the driver to release him if he was jailed.”

In his statement to police, the driver, Munindra Mahato, has conceded that he killed Bipin by reversing the truck.

Four days after the incident, the Province 2 government has pledged compensation of Rs500,000 to the victim’s family. “A cabinet meeting held on Monday condemned the murder of Dilip Mahato, while protesting against illegal mining of riverbed materials. It also pledged to extend financial help to the victim’s family,” said Gyanendra Yadav, provincial government spokesperson and Minister of Law and Internal Affairs.