Madhubani massacre case main accused arrested, links with BJP MLA alleged

On the day of Holi, more than 50 armed men opened fire on members of Ranvijay Singh’s family, which was involved in a dispute between Muhammadpur and Gebipur villages over fishing from a pond.

Bihar police on Wednesday arrested the main accused in the Benni Patti massacre case, in which five upper-caste Rajput men, including a BSF officer, were gunned down at Mahmudpur village under Benipatti police station in Bihar’s Madhubani district on March 29. The main accused, Pravin Jha, is suspected to be the force behind a newly-formed private army named ‘Ravan Sena’, made up of upper caste ‘Maithil Brahmins’ in the region.

Madhubani : Rashtriya Janta Dal leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav meets families of those murdered in Madhubani district, Tuesday. (PTI)

Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has alleged that Jha has links with former minister and BJP MLA from Benipatti, Binod Narayan Jha. “The BJP MLA has close links with Pravin Jha. The family of the deceased, locals have all vouched for it. Police should look into the call details of the BJP MLA and a fair investigation should be conducted,” Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, leader of the opposition, said in Patna on Wednesday.

However, the BJP MLA has denied any link in a video message in circulation on social media.

On the day of Holi, more than 50 armed men opened fire on members of Ranvijay Singh’s family, which was involved in a dispute between Muhammadpur and Gebipur villages over fishing from a pond. In the gang war like attack, Ranvijay Singh and his cousin brother Virendra Singh were killed on the spot. Three other family members -- Rana Pratap Singh (a BSF officer), Amrendra Singh (a cricketer) and Rudra Narayan Singh succumbed to their injuries a day later. Another injured person, Manoj Singh, was currently admitted to the Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital.

Family members of the deceased staged a protest demanding a CBI probe into the killings and threatened to die by suicide before the chief minister’s residence if the accused, named in their complaint, were not arrested within four days.

Preliminary investigation suggested that the pond was owned by one Sanjay Singh (brother of Ranvijay), but another group from Gebipur wanted to capture it. On November 20, two separate cases were lodged by Sanjay and Mukesh Safi (a close associate of Pravin Jha), which led to Sanjay getting jailed.

Additional director general (ADG) headquarters, Jitendra Kumar confirmed that the prime accused were arrested by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by Madhubani superintendent of police (SP) Dr Satya Prakash, who, acting on a tip-off, raided a house at Raghauni village, situated on Madhubani-Darbhanga border, falling under Bisfi police station and arrested four accused identified as Pravin Jha alias Ravan, Chandan Jha, Mukesh Safi, Bhola Singh and the house owner, for giving them shelter. A police post was also set up in the village to prevent any untoward incident.

Darbhanga range IG Ajitabh Kumar told HT that the massacre was the result of a fight for supremacy between two groups and not two castes. “A case has been lodged against 35 persons and dozens of unidentified accused. 14 named accused have been arrested while property of one of the chief accused, Navin Jha, who is still absconding, has been attached,” said a police officer.