NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

10 Dalits shot in Bihar over land dispute

At least ten people were shot dead by criminals over some dispute relating to the extraction of sand from the bank of the Kiul river at Hasanpur village in Lakhisarai district of Bihar late last night.

District magistrate Avinash Kumar said today that a group of criminals opened fire on the victims engaged in the extraction of sand from the river bank.

Kumar said the deceased have been identified and added that the district authorities have announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 20,000 each to the family of the deceased. Another three people were injured, two of them critically, and were sent to the Patna Medical College hospital for treatment, he said.

However, an unofficial report put the death toll at 15.

Tension prevailed in the area and the local villagers did not allow the authorities to take the bodies for post-mortem.

Meanwhile, Rashtriya Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav along with state director general of police K A Jacob and other officials left for the spot to inquire into the incident.

The deceased were labourers mostly from the backward community, Avinash Kumar said.

They were identified as Nirdhan Mandal (18), Basant Mandal (50), Surendra Sharma (40), Vijay Kumar Paswan (20), Krishna Manjhi (18), Rambalak Paswan(40), Kamo Thakur (38), Malo Rajak (35), Dharendra Kumar Paswan(16) and Bhim Paswan (42).

Senior police officials including deputy inspector general of police(Munger range) P K Thakur and Lakhisarai police superintendent M S Mazid were camping at the spot and a massive manhunt had been launched to nab the culprits.

UNI

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report