14 arrested in connection with murder of constable in Bihar

|HT|

West Champaran’s Balthar police have arrested at least 14 people in connection with Saturday’s incident in which a constable was killed and three others were injured after a mob attacked the police station in reaction to the alleged custodial death of a villager, officials said on Sunday. “So far, 14 people have been arrested in connection with Balthar incident as per the information available. Search for other accused is on,” said Champaran range DIG Pranav Kumar Praveen.

Hundreds of villagers went on a rampage and attacked Balthar police station in West Champaran along the Indo-Nepal border on Saturday afternoon.Trouble erupted after news surfaced of the death of a villager, in his 30s, who was taken into police custody allegedly for violation of prohibitory order. The deceased was identified as Aniruddh Kumar alias Amrit Yadav who was part of a DJ team and a resident of Aryanagar under the Balthar police station.

The deceased’s brother Kanhaiya Yadav accused police personnel of beating his brother to death. “After he died, the policemen fled from the police station, setting the vehicles on fire themselves,” he told media persons at Balthar. When contacted, Bettiah’s superintendent of police (SP), Upendra Nath Verma said the deceased had come to the police station following the seizure of his DJ. “He was not as such under our custody or kept in police lockup. Rather, he was attacked by a swarm of bees when he was drinking water, using a hand pump on the premises of the police station. He was taken to the hospital but died. Bees also emerged from his ear cavity,” said SP Verma.

“A furious mob attacked the police station in which one policeman died, while three others were injured. The trouble makers also set six vehicles on fire which include three police vehicles and one of the fire brigades, besides two private vehicles,” said Kundan Kumar, sub divisional police officer (SDPO), Narkatiaganj. The deceased constable was identified as Ram Jatan Rai, who was attached to the neighbouring Prushottampur police station. The injured police personnel, identified as Chandan Kumar, Pappu Kumar Sharma and Rajendra Prasad Singh, were recuperating at government medical college and hospital (GMCH). “While two of them have suffered superficial injuries, one (Pappu Kumar Sharma) is admitted here with gunshot injuries. They are out of danger,” said Pramod Tiwari, superintendent of GMCH.

Meanwhile, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) legislator from Sikta, Birendra Gupta, on Sunday demanded a high-level inquiry into the matter. “Death caused by bee sting does not hold water at all. The government must set up a high-level inquiry to unearth the truth,” said Gupta.

(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.)