One person was killed and at least five were injured when police allegedly opened fire on a group of protestors in Bihar’s Samastipur on Friday, PTI reported. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ordered an investigation into the incident at Asadhi village, under the Tajpur police station.
Kumar called the incident “sad” and directed Tirhut Divisional Commissioner Mihir Kumar Singh and Tirhut Range Deputy Inspector General of Police Anil Kumar Singh to visit the site and submit a report.
The villagers, who were protesting the killing of a chemist by unidentified assailants on Wednesday, torched eight police vehicles and tried to set ablaze a police station, Samastipur Superintendent of Police Deepak Ranjan said. The police personnel had to fire in the air when they could not disperse the crowd, Ranjan claimed.
“In the melee, some police personnel perhaps could not aim their guns properly in the air, and as a result of which two of the demonstrators suffered bullet injuries,” he claimed. Ranjan said that one of the injured protestors died on the spot, while the other was taken to a hospital. Three policemen and an administrative official were also injured, he said.
Ranjan said the situation in the area was tense and a large number of police personnel had been deployed there.
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