11 gunned down in Bihar district

NAWADA BIHAR, JUNE 12: Eleven upper caste people, including eight of a family, were gunned down and four others seriously injured by uni...

NAWADA BIHAR, JUNE 12: Eleven upper caste people, including eight of a family, were gunned down and four others seriously injured by unidentified assailants in Bihar8217;s Nawada district on Sunday night, police said on Monday.

State Director General of Police, K A Jacob said over hundred assailants, armed with automatic weapons, swooped on Apsad villag under Warsaliganj police station in Nawada and killed eleven persons including a five-year-old child sleeping on the roof of a two-storeyed building owned by relatives of an Independent MLA, Aruna Devi.

Four others who suffered injuries in the attack were sent to Patna Medical College Hospital PMCH where their condition was stated to be critical.

Those killed were Gita Singh 48, Ramdahin Prasad 25, Chandrika Prasad Singh 15, Girish Kumar 5, Kamlesh Singh 12 , Ramakant Singh 28, Mintu Kumar 18, Dasrath Singh 24, Satish Kumar, Rajo Singh 45 and Ramlal 15. Police said the attackers also slit the throat of the victims and pierced their abdomen with sharp-edeged weapons.

Angry villagers refused to allow lifting of the bodies for cremation demanding immediate suspension of Deputy Superintendent of Police, Warsaliganj, P K Mandal, officer-in-charge, and in-charge of Chakway police station.

Raids were being conducted at various places in Nawada to arrest the killers. Additional companies of the para-military forces were being rushed to Nawada keeping in view the mounting tension after the incident.

The victims belonged to upper caste Bhumihar community, the sources said adding that the killing could be the fallout of the gang war between Ashok Mahato and Akhilesh Singh groups in central Bihar.

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Senior officials including Jacob, state Home Secretary U N Panjiar, Inspector General of Police Patna Range Neelmani were camping on the spot to oversee the combing operation.

The killing came barely a week after the massacre of six persons belonging to Yadava community in Nawada.

According to official sources, angry villagers set on fire three bogies of 591 up Jhajha-Gaya DMU train at Gauspur station in protest against the incident. They also uprooted fish plates to block movement of trains.

Chief Minister Rabri Devi has condemned the killing and has asked the district administration to arrest the killers.

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NDA leader P K Sinha demanded immediate dismissal of the Rabri Devi ministry following reoccurrences of carnages ever since it took office on March 11 afresh. BPCC president Chandan Bagchi called for an immediate meeting of the coordination committee of coalition partners to discuss strategy to prevent such incidents.

He also demanded a high-level inquiry and adequate compensation to the dependents of the victims.

Following the massacres, the NDA Bihar unit held the Congress responsible for the recurrence of the carnages in Bihar saying had the party not provided support, the quot;corrupt and ineffectivequot; Rabri Devi ministry would not have been installed.