1 died, 10 injured after mass shooting at Bihar’s Begusarai

|HT|

A 25-year-old man died and 10 others were injured after two unidentified bike-borne assailants opened fire at 10 locations in Bihar’s Begusarai district on Tuesday evening, police said, adding the accused are yet to be arrested.

According to the police, the first firing was reported from an area under the Teghra police station limits shortly after 6pm. The assailants were heading towards Begusarai from the adjoining Samastipur district on the National Highway-28, a senior police officer said.

“The other nine firings were reported from Bachhwara, Phulwaria, Barauni and Chakia police station areas in next 40 minutes,” the officer added, requesting anonymity.

All 10 firings happened within 30-kilometre distance and investigation is on to identify the accused. “We are looking into the CCTV footage from one of the firing spots,” the officer said. “In the footage, the man driving the two-wheeler is seen with a helmet on while pillion rider has his face covered with a cloth.”

The assailants appeared to have entered Patna district, said Satyaveer Singh, deputy inspector general of police, Begusarai. “We have intensified raids to find the accused. Their identity is yet to be ascertained,” said Singh. “A high alert has been sounded in Begusarai and Patna districts.”

Meanwhile, the deceased has been identified as Chandan (25), a resident of Pipra village in Begusarai, who succumbed to his bullet injuries in a local hospital, police said, adding that 10 other injured people have been admitted to different hospitals, of which four are stated to be critical.

Soon after the incident, BJP hit out at the grand alliance government in Bihar. Union minister Giriraj Singh, the BJP MP from Begusarai, said, “There is no government in Bihar, and no fear of law among criminals.”

Chitranjan Gagan, a spokesperson of the RJD, said, “This incident has been committed to tarnish the image of Bihar.”

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)