Prayaag Sengupta
October 28, 2020
One person was killed and twenty-four people including the security personnel were left injured in the firing and stone-pelting which broke out during the immersion of Goddess Durga’s idol in Munger a day before the first phase of the elections.
A firing took place in Munger killing one and leaving twenty-four injured.
(Source: sirfnews.com)
The incident took place on the night of October 26 (Monday) at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Chowk under the Kotwali Police Station limits of the city as per the police according to the Firstpost.
Sources from the location in Munger say that the crowd went berserk when the police asked them to speed up the immersion process. The administration had asked the Puja Committees to conduct the immersion processes within a deadline given the restrictions imposed due to the assembly elections as per Deccan Chronicle.
The police said that during the Durga Puja immersion procession, a group from the crowd started pelting stones leaving many policemen injured and one person was killed later when someone from the crowd fired as reported by Deccan Chronicle.
Munger SP Lipi Singh claims, “Around 20 policemen were injured after a group started pelting stones. Later on, someone from the crowd fired which led to the killing of a person”.
The incident has sparked anger in Bihar a day ahead of the first phase of the polls and also drew political reactions from LJP President Chirag Paswan demanding strong action against Superintendent of Police Lipi Singh as reported by Firstpost.
The LJP President tweeted in Hindi, “A 302 (murder) case should be registered against the Munger Police. Firing on devotees shows Nitish’s is a Talibani regime. The local SP should be suspended immediately”. He also went on to demand Rs 50 lakh ex gratia and a government job for the kin of the deceased as per Firstpost.
Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi called this an unfortunate event and called for immediate action and investigation from the Election Commission. The police force to be deployed has increased in the town and around the polling booths according to The Indian EXPRESS.
Sources: (The Indian EXPRESS, Firstpost., Deccan Chronicle)
Edited by Shreya Gupta and Aditya Das