FIR against JD(U) leaders in Purnia
The victim, Mitthu Singh, 26, who was thrashed allegedly by supporters of the JD(U) leaders on Wednesday, died in a hospital on Friday.
The police have registered FIRS against two JD(U) leaders, one of them the brother of Santosh Kumar, the sitting JD(U) MP from Purnia, in connection with the mob violence on Wednesday that has left one dead and two injured.
The victim, Mitthu Singh, 26, who was thrashed allegedly by supporters of the JD(U) leaders on Wednesday, died in a hospital on Friday.
Police have registered five FIRS, three of them against two JD(U) leaders, Shankar Kushwaha (elder brother of sitting MP Santosh Kumar) and senior JD(U) leader Neelu Patel.
The FIRS were lodged by Nurul Khan, one of those injured in the violence, Pushpesh Singh alias Binni Singh, also injured, and Suman Singh, brother of Mitthu Singh.
Asha Devi, aunt of the sitting JD(U) MP, has also lodged an FIR in which she has named Bittu Singh, a history sheeter, and his brothers, accusing them of barging into her house to kill them. She has alleged that Bittu and his men were demanding extortion money from her family.
Town police station SHO Amit Kumar has also lodged an FIR against 13 persons who were allegedly behind vandalising a police vehicle and attacking policemen during the violence.
Mitthu Singh, driver of Bittu Singh, and three others were assaulted with iron rods and sticks, allegedly by supporters of JD(U) leaders, when they were holding a meeting to settle a land dispute in the Barihat locality of Purnia. “Police are trying to obtain CCTV footage,” said Purnia SP Vishal Sharma.
He said the police could not find any used cartridge at the site to support claims by the accused that they were fired at. “The police were later handed over used cartridges. We are probing the matter,” Sharma said.
Meanwhile, the Congress has demanded stern action against the JD(U) leaders, including the sitting MP. Uday Singh, the Congress nominee from Purnia where voting was held on April 18, said, “The incident was plotted by the JD(U) MP and his associates to implicate others.”
JD(U) MP Santosh Kumar, seeking re-election from the seat this time, blamed the Congress and demanded an impartial inquiry. “I am thankful to God that my brother is alive because the bullet missed him,” he said.