A day after four persons were killed and several vehicles and houses were torched, eerie silence prevailed in Azizpur village of Muzaffarpur district in north Bihar. The village, inhabited by the minority community, was deserted with only a handful of the elderly were seen huddled in a room of a half-burnt house to tell the frightening tale to the visiting police officials, politicians and media persons.
A posse of armed forces was searching in nearby mustard fields for more bodies. Thirteen persons have been arrested in connection with the incident, said the police.
“Just now we’ve found the body of a boy in the nearby field,” said R.K. Mishra, Superintendent of Police, Muzaffarpur. Mr. Mishra along with top district officials was camping in the village. “Unless all the villagers return to their homes it is very difficult to say how many of them were killed in the Sunday incident,” the SP told The Hindu . He said the situation was tense but under control.
Along with a boy, Mohd Ghula Jila, at least three persons were charred to death while several others, including girls and women were injured on Sunday when hundreds of armed men from nearby Bahilwara Mali Tola village surrounded Azizpur and started beating up inhabitants while setting their houses, vehicles and belongings on fire.
They had raided the village after the body of a youth Bhartendu Sahni was found on a field near the mosque of Azizpur. The youth had gone missing from January 9 and a case was registered.
Locals said Bhartendu Sahni, 19, was in love with a Muslim girl of Azizpur. The brother of the girl Sadaquat Ali alias Vikki was the main accused in the Sahni missing case. The rampaging mob accused Sadaquat Ali for the murder of Sahni and torched everything came in its way while beating up people.
Three members of Salma Khatun family — her husband Mohd. Akhtar Hussain, son Mohd. Shamim and grandson Shamsul Mushtafa — lost their lives in the incident. “They were burnt to death when the marauders torched our house,” she said.
Mohd. Ibrahim, grandfather of Sadaquat Ali, said: “Vikki is not like a boy who could murder anyone. He studies in a college.”
Vikki’s father Wasi Ahmad is an advocate and agriculturalist, while his brother Mohd. Ibrahim works in Saudi Arabia. All other family members of Vikki have fled the village.
The police have arrested 13 persons — Sadan Bhagat, Kailash Sahni, Ratan Sahni, Jadunandan Sahni, Pappu Sahni, Harendra Sahni, Mahendra Sahni, Guddu Bhagat, Ravi Ranjan Sahni, Baidyanath Sahni, Suresh Paswan, Santosh Paswan and Deepak Paswan — for the carnage.
“Besides, the main accused in the Bhartendu Sahni case Sadaquat Ali alias Vikki too has been arrested,” the SP said.
Several politicians have visited the village and appealed for communal harmony.
Meanwhile, the Bihar government has ordered a high-level probe into the incident. It also announced Rs. 5 lakh each as compensation to the families of victims and Rs. 50,000 for those injured.
Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who had gone on a pilgrimage trip to Maharashtra, cut short his visit and reached Patna.
“Ever since the JD(U) and the RJD have made an alliance, Bihar has become a hub of communal clashes,” charged BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy in Delhi.
