By IANS,
Patna : A 24-year-old-youth, seriously injured Saturday in police firing in Bihar’s Madhubani district, succumbed to his injuries Sunday, sparking fresh protests in the restive region, an official said. The death toll in the violent protest has now reached three.
“Another youth succumbed to his injuries he received during the police firing during protests,” a Madhubani district police official said. The town is 170 km from here.
Four people were seriously injured Saturday in police firing in Jainagar block in Madhubani district during protests and was admitted to hospital.
The violence in Madhubani forced Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to Sunday defer his ‘Adhikar Yatra’ to Buxar and Bhojpur districts.
On Friday, two youths were killed after being hit by bullets and over a dozen people were injured after police opened fire at an irate mob in Madhubani town.
According to an official of the district administration, after news of the third death spread like wildfire, hundreds of people took to the streets to protest in Jainagar Sunday.
Earlier Saturday, angry protesters torched three block office building, an equal number of police stations and several vehicles parked there. They had also ransacked Jainagar railway station and attacked several government properties
A mob of protestors had also looted foodgrains from a state food corporation warehouse in Kanjhauli block.
The town has been simmering since a headless body was found almost a fortnight ago. The family members of a missing youth, Prashant Kumar, claimed that the body was his and demanded that it be handed over to them — but the police remained unrelenting.
Hundreds of people joined the family members in pressing the demand. But when police still refused to give in, the mob turned violent and indulged in violent protests Friday and Saturday.
On Saturday, the authorities finally relented and handed over the body to Prashant Kumar’s family.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident and transferred the district magistrate and superintendent of police with immediate effect.
Madhubani’s new District Magistrate Lokesh Kumar Singh said the situation in Madhubani was under control.