Katihar police fired in self defence, says administration; one of the deceased was not 'protester' but went to save brother

District administration said that police had resorted to firing in self-defence as the unruly mob was attacking them and the electricity office staff.

Katihar (Bihar):One of the persons killed in police firing on a mob protesting over power cuts in Barsoi in Bihar's Katihar yesterday, was not a 'protester' but had gone there to save his elder brother, who was an employee of the electricity department office. Police said two persons were killed though locals said that the death toll in the incident was three.

The deceased, identified as Sonu had gone there to save his brother, Manik Chandra Saha, his father said. Sonu's elder brother Monu works as a data operator in the Barsoi electricity department office. On Wednesday, he called up his father and informed that there was trouble outside his office. "I told him to hide somewhere for the time being," Manik said.

Manik, a resident of Barsoi Bazar and father of three sons said that his eldest son Monu had got a job in the electricity department two months back. According to Manik when Sonu came to know that his brother was trapped inside the office, he and his other son left for the venue on bike.

"Before leaving Sonu promised me that he will bring back his brother home. But, we had never imagined that Sonu would never return. When my sons reached the electricity department's office, police firing was on and a bullet hit Sonu's head" Manik said.

After sustaining bullet injury, Sonu was rushed to Katihar Medical College Hospital where he died during treatment. After this death, there was uproar among the family members. Local people complained that many of those who were injured were innocent were unarmed

Presently, Barsoi has been converted into a police cantonment with deployment of a large number of police personnel. District Officer Raviprakash and Superintendent of Police Jitendra Kumar are at the spot and efforts are on to normalise the situation.

SP Jitendra Kumar said that preliminary investigations revealed that police had fired in self-defence as the mob started attacking electricity office staff and police. "The police fired in self-defence. Investigations are on. Strict action will be taken against the guilty. People were protesting in a peaceful manner and suddenly, they turned violent," Kumar said.

Echoing the same, DM Ravi Prakash said that demonstrations were held peacefully but due to some miscreants the mob turned violent. "The miscreants are being identified and action will be taken against them," Prakash added.

According to police, several police personnel and employees of the electricity department were injured in the incident. They said that anti-social elements started pelting stones at the police team. The police initially warned the miscreants but when the situation was going out of control, they resorted to firing in self-defence and also to save the employees, police said.