Ranvir Sena chief killing: Cong cautions against reigniting of caste conflict in Bihar

 Congress on Friday said that killing of Brahmeshwar Singh, who headed the outlawed private militia of landlords, Ranvir Sena, puts a question mark over the law and order situation in Bihar.

At the same time, the party asked all responsible citizens and political parties to work together to ensure that the incident does not take an ugly turn and becomes a caste conflict. Steering clear of the demand for a CBI probe into the matter, CWC member Shakeel Ahmed told reporters that no one should play politics over the incident. A former Union Minister, Ahmed is also a former PCC President of Bihar.

"There are no two opinions that such incidents put a question mark on the law and order situation in the state", Ahmed said when asked whether the killing showed the "failure" of the Nitish Kumar Government on the law and order front.

Singh was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Bhojpur district today, triggering tension in the area.

Singh, alias Mukhiya ji, who faced life imprisonment in several cases of carnage he had perpetrated on the lower caste landless poor, including in Laxmanpur Bathe where 61 Dalits were massacred in December, 1996, was released from jail in April this year. Between 1976 and 2001, Bihar had witnessed a number of massacres executed either by the feudal forces or by the self-styled champions of the landless poor. He is also suspected to have organised carnages in the districts of Jahanabad, Aurangabad and Nawada in the 1990s.