Another RLSP leader shot dead, Kushwaha hits out at Nitish govt’s law and order record

A Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) leader was shot dead at a cultural event in Patna district late Tuesday even as a police inspector stood right behind him. It was the fourth killing of a RLSP worker since April and party chief Upendra Kushwaha hit out at the Nitish Kumar government’s claims of good governance.

RLSP’s Paliganj block president Amit Kumar Bhushan alias Tuktuk Verma, 35, was killed and another man, identified Visheshwar Prasad Singh, injured in the attack by unidentified assailants at the programme in Dharhara village.

Kushwaha, who rushed to the killed leader’s house today, alleged utter lawlessness was prevailing in the state as he cited repeated attacks on his party workers. “This incident yet again exposes Nitish government’s tall claims of good governance. Criminals’ morale is at an all time high in state while commoners are living in peril,” he said.

Verma is the third RLSP leader to be killed in Bihar since April.

Party leader Manoj Mahto was shot dead at Garikhana village of Patna district on April 9 and eyewtiness Arun Kumar was also gunned down in the same locality on October 30. In August, two motorcycle-borne assailants killed Manish Sahni, a block head of RLSP in Vaishali district.

On Verma’s murder, police said the attack occurred around 10.30 pm when he had gone to inaugurate the cultural programme near Khiri More police station where the local SHO was also a guest. Just as he was alighting from the stage, gunmen fired at least four bullets at him from close range. The SHO, who had been standing behind Verma, escaped unhurt while the assailants escaped.

Eyewitnesses said that a team of policemen including the SHO were present on the spot but they did not act swiftly.

The injured has been admitted to hospital while Patna’s senior superintendent of police Manu Maharaaj has constituted a team under the superintendent of police (west) to solve the case and arrest the accused.