PATNA: A 24-year-old youth shot dead a teenage girl and her father before shooting himself with a country-made pistol at Ara railway junction in Bhojpur district, police said on Wednesday.
The incident took place when the 16-year-old girl, along with her father was about to board a train for New Delhi from Ara railway station late on Tuesday. The youth intercepted the girl and her father on the stairs of the railway platform and fired from close range. The girl and her father fell unconscious on the stairs after receiving gunshot injuries and started bleeding profusely.
Before people at the railway platform could react to the incident, the assailant shot himself with the same weapon in his temple. He died on the spot.
The officials of the railway government police (GRP) rushed to the spot and sent the bodies for postmortem at the Ara Sadar hospital. They recovered the illegal weapon from the site.
The assailant was identified as Aman Kumar, a compounder and resident of Asni village in Bhojpur district. The identity of the girl and her father was ascertained as Ayushi Kumari and Anil Kumar Sinha. Ayushi was persuing MBA from Delhi.
Prime facie the incident appeared to be a fallout of a love affair. Police sources said that Ayushi had turned down Aman’s proposal when she came to her native village from Delhi before Holi.
“She was fed up with Aman’s advances and had also rebuked him,” said an investigating officer. Sources said that the deceased girl belonged to a well-educated family. While her elder sister is an IITian and working in Hyderabad, her mother is a teacher in Navodaya Vidyalaya at Bihiya in Bhojpur district. Her father worked at a private firm.
Additional Superintendent of police (ASP), Ara, Parichay Kumar, confirmed that love affairs appeared to be the reason behind the incident.
“Further investigation is underway. The bodies have been handed over to respective families after postmortem,” he added.
Meanwhile, the GRP has obtained CCTV clips for investigation in the triple killing. RPF senior commandant Prakash Panda said that the weapon used in the crime has already been seized.
“We have asked the authorities concerned to enhance the number of CCTV on the railway overbridge,” he added. The incident has become a talking point in the Ara, district headquarters of Bhojpur.