West Champaran (Bihar): Police have registered a case against a Bihar minister’s son and six other people a day after they were roughed up by locals in West Champaran district on Sunday for allegedly opening fire at a group of children playing cricket in an orchard.
Bablu Kumar, whose father Narayan Prasad is a BJP leader and the state minister for tourism, was attacked at Haradiya Koeri Tola village in Mufassil police station area. In a video from the spot, the minister’s son can be seen being thrashed by a group of villagers, who also snatched away a gun he was carrying.
At least six people including a minor were injured when Kumar, according to locals, fired in the air to scare the children away which led to a stampede.
Angry villagers chased the minister's son and his personnel and thrashed them fiercely. They also damaged the vehicle he had arrived in. Police, according to sources, have seized a pistol and a rifle from the spot. Both the weapons, sources said, belong to the minister's son.
An FIR was registered in Mufassil police station against seven people, including the minister's son, on the statement of the mother of one of the injured youths. The police have seized the vehicle and an investigation team has been constituted.
According to Superintendent of Police Upendra Verma, Kumar was accompanied by uncle Harendra Prasad, manager Vijay Sah and other associates, all of whom sustained injuries in the clash.
They claimed they went to the spot upon learning about an "encroachment" on an orchard and were assaulted there and robbed of the licensed gun, and that their vehicles were vandalised. However, the villagers alleged that the minister’s family members had taken exception to some children playing cricket there, and the situation went out of hand when Kumar fired a shot in the air.
The minister’s son, who along with other injured persons is admitted to a hospital, has asserted that no shot was fired. Minister Prasad claims that the whole incident is being presented in a different way as he accused the villagers of trying to "grab land".
On the question of opening firing at people, he had said that people were injured due to stone-pelting.
"My son didn't (open) fire. On the contrary, people ran after him, snatched his weapon and then he was brutally assaulted. Our car was ransacked. The whole dispute is about the land. It is being raised in another way," the minister alleged.
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