PATNA, June 21 -- Following uproar over the encounter of an allegedly "mentally disturbed" youth in Bhojpur, Bihar chief minister Samrat Choudhary on Saturday announced judicial inquiry into the incident, writing on his X account that a retired high court judge will conduct an inquiry into the case. "It has been decided to conduct a judicial inquiry by a retired high court judge for an independent and impartial investigation of the police encounter that took place on June 17 in Bilauti village under the Shahpur police station area of Bhojpur district," the CM posted on X. He said that the objective of the judicial inquiry is to ensure a thorough investigation of all aspects of the incident with complete impartiality and transparency. The encounter has generated a lot of heat in Ara where locals gathered in large numbers at the funeral of the youth and leaders cutting across party lines, including those from the NDA, condemning the police high-handedness. Following his death, the shocked and angry villagers blocked the Bihar-UP Expressway for over eight hours on Thursday to protest the alleged killing. They pelted stones and demanded a judicial probe or investigation by an independent agency into the incident and action against the police personnel. The protesters alleged that the encounter was staged and demanded an independent and high-level probe into the circumstances surrounding the death. Police officials attempted multiple rounds of negotiations with demonstrators, but the blockade continued. What has made things difficult for the police is the viral video of the youth, who did Facebook live to give vent to his feelings before surrendering to the police. He went live on Facebook as the police surrounded his home, gun in hand, talking to the officers. At some point he stepped outside, walked toward an open patch near the village, fields on either side, some construction work going on nearby, and kept talking. Not about himself, really. About floods. About erosion. About a village that's been displaced more than once and demands nobody seemed to be listening to. Then the video, as far as the public know, cuts off before anything fatal happens. Former BJP MP from Ara RK Singh, former union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey, BJP national secretary Rituraj Singh, JD(U) leader Sanjay Jha, Bihar Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha and several others raised questions over the decision counter. Mithilesh Tiwari, the state's education minister, spoke about it on June 18 at an event in Buxar, calling the whole episode "unfortunate." Rituraj Sinha questioned the circumstances of the encounter and demanded a detailed and impartial judicial inquiry into it. While Ashwini Choubey termed the incident a shame on democracy and called it a "murder". Choubey demanded intervention from Union home minister Amit Shah in this matter and served ultimatum to the Bihar government to send the culprits to jail within 48 hours. However, the viral video raised questions over police conduct during an operation that later culminated in an encounter and the death of the youth. According to police accounts, an exchange of firing took place during which the youth sustained bullet injuries. He was subsequently shifted to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), where he later died during treatment. The encounter itself has now become a matter of public debate. Police say he opened fire and they shot back in self-defence. His family insists the opposite, that he handed over the weapon and surrendered, and was shot regardless. He was taken first to Shahpur Referral Hospital, then moved to the Patna Medical College and Hospital, where he died. "My son surrendered. The police shot him anyway," his mother said. No FIR against the boy, no chargesheet, nothing on record, just a young man she describes as someone who did social work, who cared about people. The mother has gone further still, calling it a planned killing rather than any kind of accident or crossfire....