A day after the firing incident in Bihar’s Begusarai district in which nine persons were injured and one was shot dead, seven policemen were suspended on Wednesday.
Five suspects were detained for interrogation. BJP workers blocked the National and State Highways while the party leaders slammed the mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) government in Bihar over deteriorating law and order situation.
Two motorcycle-borne miscreants, while crossing three police stations, had opened indiscriminate fire for over 25 minutes while moving on the National Highways 28 and 31 at different places in Begusarai district on Tuesday, killing Chandan Kumar, 31, and injuring nine others. Some of the injured were later shifted to Patna for better medical assistance. The miscreants first opened fire at the Malhipur chowk (thoroughfare) in Begusarai town.
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Later they resorted to indiscriminate firing at the Barauni Thermal chowk, Teghra, Bacchwara and Rajendra bridge before entering into Patna district. Their identities are yet to be ascertained, though, district police have detained five persons for interrogation.
Those who got injured in the firing incident are: Rohit Kumar (23), Deepak Choudhary (22), Gaurav Kumar (23), Vishal Kumar, Arvind Choudhary (27), Amarjit Das (40), Prashant Kumar Rajak, Bharat Yadav (45) and Jeetu Paswan.
“I was selling ice cream at the Malhipur chowk when the motor-cycle borne assailants came and shot at me randomly. Another person too was shot at,” said Mr. Jeetu Paswan.
CCTV footage
“Prima facie our patrol party of police personnel was on the streets. Still, they either could not stop the criminals or could not do the checking. In this connection, seven police personnel have been suspended,” Additional Director General of Police (headquarters) Jitendra Singh Gangwar told media persons. He said CCTV had captured the assailants and police were verifying their identities.
“Five people have been detained for questioning,” said another senior police official seeking anonymity. “Innocent people were shot at whom the assailants did not even know and this has confused the police for investigation. It might be the handiwork of some local psychopath miscreants to create terror in the area,” he added.
Meanwhile, local BJP workers and leaders protested against the firing incident on Wednesday and blocked the highways, which caused long queues of vehicles and inconvenience to commuters. The protesters also shouted slogans “ Nitish Kumar murdabad, Bihar sarkar shame-shame”.
The BJP slammed the mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the deteriorating law and order situation in the State. Begusarai is represented in Parliament by fiery party leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh. Mr. Singh reached Begusarai on Wednesday and met family members of the deceased Chandan Kumar.
BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain, who too visited Begusarai, said, “The shooting is the first of its kind in the State. I was trying to set up industries in Begusarai but now bullets are being fired like terrorists in Punjab and Kashmir. It shows the confidence level of criminals and it is high time the Chief Minister stepped in and took action against criminals,” said Mr. Hussain.
“Criminals and mafia alliance in Bihar has led to such incidents in the State where the police appear to be busy seizing illegal liquor and sand-laden vehicles while ignoring the law and order situation,” accused Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and former Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha.
