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Local leader’s killing in Purnia stirs protests, SHO suspended
Vishwajeet Singh, 30, a former district board member from Dhamdaha, was shot dead at Sarsi village under Sarsi police station limits, about 40 km from Purnia town.
Angry over the killing of a former district board member in a Purnia village on Friday evening, locals staged protests outside the local police station and blocked the main road for several hours on Saturday afternoon, lifting the blockade only after the superintendent of police suspended the station house officer for negligence.
Vishwajeet Singh, 30, a former district board member from Dhamdaha, was shot dead at Sarsi village under Sarsi police station limits, about 40 km from Purnia town.
While no FIR (first information report) had been lodged by family members of the deceased till Saturday afternoon, leader of Opposition in Bihar assembly, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), put the police in the dock. In a Twitter post, he wrote, “Singh had earlier complained to the police that he feared being killed by the nephew of minister Leshi Singh. But the police, acting as an agent of the ruling Janata Dal (United), failed to act and he was killed.”
Police sources confirmed that Singh, in a police complaint on November 3, had apprehended threat to his life from one Ashish Singh, who is nephew of food and consumer protection minister Leshi Singh. He had lodged the complaint at Sarsi police station on November 3 after some criminals fired at him.
The deceased’s wife, Anulika Singh, has been just elected as district board member from Dhamdaha in the ongoing panchayat polls.
Purnia superintendent of police Daya Shankar said family members of the deceased had not yet lodged an FIR pertaining to the killing of Singh.
Asked about the victim’s earlier complaint, the SP said, “SHO of Sarsi police station, Naresh Kumar, had been put under suspension. We are conducting raids to nab the accused.”
In 2020 assembly polls, brother of one Bittu Singh, a notorious criminal who was then in jail, was shot dead in the same area. The family had then accused Leshi Singh of patronizing criminals who committed the crime.
