Patna: More than 24 hours after two bike-borne men shot at random people on the highway killing one and leaving 10 others wounded in the Begusarai district of Bihar, the culprits are still at large even as seven police officials have been suspended. Politics over the incident has begun with BJP poking CM Nitish Kumar over 'failure' of law and order with the latter "smelling a conspiracy" in the mass shooting incident.
While speaking to the media in Patna on Wednesday, Nitish said, "I called a meeting with the DGP today and gave strict instructions on the Begusarai incident. It seems to be a conspiracy."
On Tuesday afternoon, two bike-borne men fired at random people at different locations on a stretch of around 30 km on NH-31. BJP leaders termed the incident a return of 'Jungle Raj' and blamed Nitish for poor law and order in the state. Following the incident, they called a Begusarai bandh on Wednesday.
Soon after reaching Begusarai, leader of opposition in Bihar legislative assembly Vijay Kumar Sinha said, “We all worked hard to get away from the tag of Jungle Raj but Nitish Kumar has once again shook hands with those people. This is Gunda Raj and he has failed in controlling a state but he dreams of controlling the country. The government has not even completed a month and terror looms in the state.” Sinha also demanded to give the ex gratia of Rs one crore to the deceased family members.
Meanwhile, Begusarai SP Yogendra Kumar Wednesday suspended seven police officers for negligence during the patrolling. Addressing the media, Additional Director General of Police (HQ) Jitendra Singh Gangwar said, "Prima facie, our patrolling party was on the streets. Still, they either could not stop the criminals or could not do the checking. In this connection, seven police officials have been suspended with immediate effect."
Begusarai MP and union minister Giriraj Singh reached his parliamentary constituency and took part in the last rites of deceased Chandan Kumar in the firing incident. He also held Nitish Kumar responsible for the incident.
“The only person who is responsible for this is Nitish Kumar. There was a time in 2005 when he was an example of better law and order in the state, however, due to greed of remaining on the CM's chair, this situation has arisen. Ever since the grand alliance formed the government in Bihar, law and order have completely collapsed. Such an incident has never happened to my knowledge in Bihar. Something similar happened in 2013 when a serial blast took place at Gandhi Maidan. It was a conspiracy to kill Narendra Modi Ji. The chief minister should come forward and speak on the issue,” Singh said while speaking to the media at Patna airport.
The incident is shocking because the bike-borne criminal unleashed the indiscriminate firing for over 40 minutes while roaming around 30 KM consisting of six police stations. Singh further alleged that such incidents will keep on happening in Bihar every day if the criminals will get protection from the government.
Also read: Begusarai firing: 7 cops suspended in Bihar
BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi also slammed Nitish's government over the incident and expressed his shock calling it the first incident in the country.
“Not Bihar, such an incident has happened for the first time in the country when criminals on bikes opened indiscriminate firing on the people while roaming around 30 km and police did not even arrest them so far. It is very unfortunate that ever since the grand alliance formed the government in Bihar the criminal morale has gone high. Criminals feel it's their government. CM has done a review meeting on law and order three days back but no result is visible. People of Bihar are living under fear and terror,” Modi said.
BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand told ETV Bharat, ” The government is saying that the matter is under investigation while the criminals are out of their grip. It is a matter of surprise that when the police are clueless about the criminals how can they present the theory of psycho killer? An individual can be a psycho killer but do psycho killers roam around forming a group? The government and the police- administration are trying to save themselves with the concocted theory of psycho killers before the media. I request CM Nitish Kumar ji that please do not fool the people of Bihar."
JDU chief spokesperson and MLC Neeraj Kumar defended the government saying that the incident is very unfortunate and totally different. “This is surely a rare criminal incident executed by the criminals. This is a challenging situation for us as well. As being in opposition, the BJP leaders will make this a political issue but the only priority is to arrest those criminals and we are not bothered what BJP leaders are saying,” Niraj told ETV Bharat. Meanwhile ADG (Headquarters) Jitendra Singh Gangwar said that soon an arrest would be made in the case.
“Police officers have been deployed and continuous patrolling has been taking place in the neighboring districts of Samastipur, Nawada, Lakhisarai, and Khagadia since last night itself. The police investigative team has the CCTV footage and based on it they are trying to verify the criminals. Few people have been detained in the case and interrogation is on. Prima facie is that our patrolling team was on the road but despite that, they could not be stopped and Begusarai SP has initiated action against seven police officers by suspending them,” Gangwar told ETV Bharat.
He also accepted the lapses from the police side saying that police should have done checking and patrolling with more responsibility.
