Firing in Bihar: 3 killed, policemen among 20 injured

With the death of one more person, the toll in the police firing and violent clash between securitymen and an irate mob rose to three today in Araria district.

The mob was opposing the construction of a maize-processing factory and an approach road in the Forbesganj industrial area after which the police had opened fire yesterday to disperse locals.

Twenty persons, including 15 policemen, were also injured in the clash, SP Garima Mallick said, adding the mob had burnt a tractor and damaged the vehicles of police and sub-divisional magistrate.

State home department principal secretary Amir Subhani and ADG Raj Bardhan Sharma have rushed to the spot to jointly enquire into the incident following the directive of chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Mallick said that only a post-mortem would confirm how many of the three were killed in the police firing.

District magistrate in-charge Kapileshwar Bishwas had yesterday said that two persons were killed and another was seriously injured in the firing.

Opposing the construction, angry locals had broken the boundary wall of the factory and indulged in heavy stone pelting and arson, Bishwas said.

After police failed to use baton charge to control the situation, they opened fire which resulted in the death of two persons on the spot, Bishwas said.

There was an old dispute between the management of the proposed factory and villagers over the land acquired for the construction of the factory and approach road.