19-year-old Bihar student critical after being beaten with rods, head crushed

Police said a preliminary probe shows it could have been a fight for supremacy between two groups.

A 19-year-old student was attacked with rods and his head crushed with a stone by seven men near a petrol pump in Bihar’s Bhabua town, police said on Tuesday.

Police said the victim was referred to the BHU Trauma Centre in Varanasi in a critical condition. (HT File / Photo used for representational purpolse)

Subodh Kumar, the son of Surendra Singh of village Sikara under Sonhan police station area, has been referred to Benaras Hindu University Trauma Centre in Varanasi in a critical condition.

Inspector Satyendra Ram, the station house officer of Bhabua police station, said a preliminary probe shows it could have been a fight for supremacy between two groups.

Kumar, an undergraduate student in a local college, was attacked by the men after he bought petrol for his motorcycle on Monday. He lives in Patna to prepare for competitive examinations and had come home.

The men crushed Kumar’s head with a heavy stone after he fell on the road, according to police. A black SUV also appeared at the scene and they escaped in the two vehicles, police said.

Police claimed they had recovered both the vehicles and arrested their drivers, who reportedly told them that the men had hired the SUVs for a picnic and they were unaware of their identity.

This is the second such incident in Bhabua in the past two days.

On Sunday, a Class 9 student, Pankaj Yadav, was allegedly murdered by his friends, who threw his body at the western end of the town. His father lodged a case of murder against his friend Adanan Khan, the son of a mukhiya, but the police are yet to nab him.

SHO Ram said it seemed to be a case of an accident. Adanan was also injured and is currently admitted in a Varanasi hospital, he said.