Samastipur: In a mistaken identity, Teghra police officers, including the deputy superintendent of police (DSP), were taken hostage by villagers of Bangaraha in Samastipur. The incident occurred when a police team from Teghra police station of Begusarai in Samastipur district went to conduct a raid in Bangraha village under the Vidyapatinagar police station area. As the policemen were in plain clothes, the villagers mistook them for goat thieves and held the team, hostage.
Acting on a tip-off, the Teghra police team had raided the Bangraha village to nab a gang of bike thieves, which was reportedly active in the area for the past few days. The team had gone for the operation in plain clothes to avoid alerting the miscreants. As the team was about to raid the house of a suspected bike thief, villagers reached the spot after hearing the sound. They mistook the plan-clothed policemen to be goat thieves.
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On finding themselves surrounded by the villagers, police informed the villagers about their actual identities. But, the villagers refused to believe them. After this, the villagers informed the Vidyapatinagar police station that they had caught the goat thieves. Meanwhile, Vidyapatinagar police learned that Teghra DSP Ravindra Mohan Prasad had gone to Bangaraha for a raid and the entire episode became clear to them.
When the Vidyapatinagar police reached the village they found that the villagers had beaten up two suspected goat thieves, along with taking the Teghra police hostage. They informed the villagers about the plain-clothed policemen, after which they were allowed to leave. Police took the two injured suspects under their custody. The injured have been identified as Birbal Kumar (21), son of Sukhdev Mahato of Simri village, and Ankit Kumar (22), son of Manoj Rajak of Maniarpu. Prasunjay Kumar, head of Vidyapatinagar Police Station, said a general diary has been lodged naming 200 unknown people in connection to this incident.
