Young Kunal was killed on July 26, 2010 in an ambush of a patrol party of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) by the Bodo militants. He was among four SSB personnel killed on the spot. His last rites were performed with state honours in Patna.

The family wanted the naming of a park in ward number 34, behind Panch Shiv Mandir, after him. The residents of Indira Nagar, Postal Park and family members moved a proposal to the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the urban development minister.

The PMC board unanimously approved the proposal at the 23rd general body meeting on January 3, 2012. A notification in this regard was also issued on August 17 following which the board sanctioned Rs 8.14 lakh for the renovation of the park.

When the executive engineer Lalan Singh ordered work to be started, it was reportedly stopped at the intervention of some political bigwigs.

“When labourers were sent to the park for cleaning on August 2, 2012, Jagdish Sharma, MP from Jehanabad, and his son, Rahul Kumar Singh, MLA from Ghoshi, stopped them,” the executive engineer wrote to the Municipal Commissioner the same day in his report, seeking guidelines from his superiors.

He further informed the Municipal Commissioner how the father-son duo told him on phone that “work would not be allowed at any cost”. “They said that the people of the locality had earlier decided to name the park after Swami Shahjanand Saraswati,” wrote the engineer.

Municipal Commissioner P K Pal, however, feigned ignorance about it. “I don’t remember what the present status is. I will find out from the engineer and then let you know,” Pal was quoted in Hindustan Times.

However, Jagdish Sharma, while talking to the daily denied he had ever raised any objection.

“If the government takes a decision, why should I unnecessarily get into all this. If the executive engineer had any problem, he should have contacted me. It is strange that my name has been involved in all this,” he added.

Meanwhile, Jagdish Thakur, the father of Kunal, has been struggling relentlessly to have a memorial built in the name of his son.

Born in an extremely backward family, Kunal did his schooling from Sainik School, Tilaiya, intermediate from Patna Science College, graduation from Patna College and PG from Delhi School of Economics. He joined SSB in 2007.