Patna - A man in Bihar was hacked to death after he named a village square after Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is the first such incident of political rivalry turning violent in Bihar after the opposition Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) gained power in the state, thanks to chief minister Nitish Kumar breaking away from the erstwhile ruling Grand Alliance and returning to the National Democratic Alliance in July last year.
As per reports, Tej Narayan Yadav, a resident of Bhadwa village in Darbhanga district, had recently named his village square after Prime Minister Modi while the rival villagers wanted it to be named after Lalu Prasad, the Rashtriya Janata Dal president.
#Darbhanga (Bihar): Around 40-50 men came on 25-30 bikes with hockey sticks & swords. My father went to them to explain the situation, but was beheaded, they also tried to kill my brother: Son of 70-yr-old man who was beheaded for naming a chowk as Narendra Modi chowk pic.twitter.com/sVS5i65GKI
— ANI (@ANI) March 16, 2018
The incident had led to tension in the area. The matter had been reported to the police, but they had not been able to settle it.
Violence erupted on Thursday night when around 40 villagers armed with lethal weapons attacked the house of Yadav and asked him change the name of square after Lalu Prasad.
We reached the spot of the incident immediately & had arrested the culprits by night. We have recorded the statements of all the witnesses. In the brother's case we have recorded his statement & our investigating the matter: Dilnvaj Ahamad, DSP Darbhanga pic.twitter.com/A5gHTbRMHU
— ANI (@ANI) March 16, 2018
This led to a fight during which the attackers allegedly killed his father Ram Chandra Yadav, 70, with a sharp-edged weapon. Another family member was also injured in the attack and has been admitted to a local hospital in a serious condition.
“We have arrested four persons in this connection and are keeping a close watch on the situation,” the local senior superintendent of police, Darbhanga, Satyaveer Singh, told the media on Friday. Further investigations are on, police said.
The incident comes barely a day after the RJD posted emphatic wins on two seats — Araria Lok Sabha and Jehanabad Assembly seats — out of three seats in the Bihar by-elections. The NDA had suffered a humiliating setback, but managed to retain the Bhabua Assembly seat with a slender margin of around 15,000 votes.
