PATNA: A BJP legislator in Bihar on Thursday claimed he escaped a bid on his life after being fired at by a sarpanch wielding a pistol for resisting his demand for extortion money from development funds.
Ranvijay Singh, the MLA from Bakhtiyarpur, lodged an FIR accusing Sadabriskh Kumar, the sarpanch, of firing at him on Thursday noon. Police arrested Sadabriksh and sent him to judicial custody.
“The MLA alleged that the sarpanch came with his men and started a quarrel over his share of development funds and then fired at him. The accused has been arrested and a probe is on,” said Lalan Mohan Prasad, superintendent of police (rural), Patna.
Police sources said the allegation could not be corroborated and no evidence of it was found at the site – Akash Line Hotel, which is owned by Singh. Sadabriksh was charged with illegal trespass and picking an unruly quarrel. The MLA did not pick up repeated calls for his comment.
“Both the MLA and the sarpanch, who had been friends till recently, had entered into a quarrel some days ago after the sarpanch objected to a road project and insisted on the construction of a drain first,” said a source familiar with the dispute. Sadabriksh is the sarpanch of Ghoshwari gram panchayat, where Singh was a ward member before being elected the MLA in November 2015, he added.
Manoj Tiwari, sub-divisional police officer of Barh, said the MLA’s allegations were being verified and efforts were taken to trace the men who allegedly accompanied Sadabriksh to Akash Line Hotel.
According to reliable sources in the area, the dispute between Singh and Sadabriksh had been on for a year and was mainly about the division of funds between them. “The MLA was highly displeased by the protests he had been facing from the sarpanch,” said a villager familiar with the dispute.