Nitish Kumar orders probe into police firing deaths

Bagha SP Sunil Kumar said police opened fire when some villagers tried to snatch arms from cops

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Tuesday ordered an inquiry into the killing of six people when police opened fire to control a mob in a village in Bagha district a day ago.

Six people, all belonging to the Tharu tribe, were killed, and 25 others, including nine police officials, seriously injured in the clash at the district's Katharwa village Monday.

An official in the Chief Minister's Office here said the inquiry would be conducted by Inspector General (Prisons) Anand Kishore and Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) S.K. Bhardwaj.

A day after the killing, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) called a shutdown in the district on June 26 to protest the police firing.

The Bharatiya Janata Party also announced that it would protest the police firing.

Senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi will meet the victims' families Tuesday in the village.

District police officials said the mob was pelting stones and attacking policemen, and the firing was only in self-defence.

Bagha Superintendent of Police Sunil Kumar told IANS over telephone that police opened fire when some villagers tried to snatch arms from policemen.

Policemen in the district said trouble started during inquiries into a murder case. Villagers insisted that the police frame a charge sheet in accordance with their demands, which policemen refused to do.

Villagers then surrounded the policemen and attacked them, the district police officials said.

Additional police force has been deployed in the village after this incident. The situation was still tense, but largely under control, Additional Director General of Police Bhardwaj said.