Holi celebrations in Bihar turned bloody on Wednesday as three persons were killed and 24 others injured in separate incidents.
Govind Yadav (40) and Narayan Yadav (45), two brothers, were shot dead and six others injured when people from two castes clashed over mud throwing at Asahni village in Chhapra district, police said.
In another incident, a child received gunshot injuries and 18 others were injured in a clash following a quarrel over Holi celebrations at Rivilganj bazaar.
A youth was shot dead by three gunmen after he resisted uprooting of plants from his land for holika dahan (a ritual symbolic of destruction of evil) at a village in Nawada district last night.
While Holi was celebrated in the rest of Bihar peacefully, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his bete noire RJD supremo Lalu Prasad refrained from celebrating the festival to empathise with the victims of Kosi floods and Mumbai terror strike.