National-level rugby player shot dead near Patna

Jay Kumar Singh was walking towards his home after completing rehearsal for the shoot at a ground on Church road when two assailants shot at him from point blank range.

An 18-year-old national-level rugby player was shot dead on Tuesday morning by two armed assailants yards away from the Barh police station in rural Patna.

Jay Kumar Singh was shot when and other rugby players were rehearsing for a film shoot. (REUTERS)

Jay Kumar Singh was shot when and other rugby players were rehearsing for a film shoot.

Sanjeet Kumar, station house officer (SHO) of Barh police station said Singh was walking towards his home after completing rehearsal for the shoot at a ground on Church road when two assailants shot at him from point blank range. He was taken to the Barh sub-divisional hospital, where he was declared brought dead.

The assailants were seen fleeing the crime scene immediately.

The police and a forensics team reached the spot and began their investigation.

Amid tension in the area, police have been deployed in the village.

The victim’s family said the player did not have personal enmity with anyone.

“We have registered a case, but no one has been named in the FIR. We are trying to identify the culprits. It seems culprits do not belong to Singh’s village,” said the SHO.

“The family still has not come up with any suspect’s name, but we have probing two angles, his father’s land disputes and a love affair, if any,” said Patna SSP Garima Malik.

In Singh’s murder, Bihar lost a second promising rugby player in the last three years.

Earlier, on June 19, 2016, 17-year-old Vishwanath Sharan had died of head injuries sustained during a Bihar state junior rugby football championship match at Ghosi in Jehanabad district.