PATNA: Former Bihar MLA Suryadev Singh of JD(U) was arrested on Sunday evening for allegedly firing at a group of children playing outside his house in Rohtas district and killing a 13-year-old girl. At least four others – three children and a man – were hospitalised with gunshot injuries.
Singh, who has been locked in a long-running feud over a plot of land with his relatives, allegedly fired from a rifle during an argument with some people on the terrace of his house at Tenduni village. Police sources said a group of children playing in the lane outside the house sustained injuries.
Hazira Khatun, 13, succumbed to the injuries at a private hospital nearby, where she was admitted immediately after the incident. Three other children – Divakar, 8, Sahil, 4, and Prakash, 12 – and Guddu, 35, received injuries. They are currently undergoing treatment at Karuna Nursing Home at Bikramganj. The condition of two children is said to be critical.
The former MLA fled the site soon after learning that the children had sustained injuries in the firing. A large crowd of villagers gathered around his house and staged angry protests, demanding Singh’s immediate arrest.
“What was the crime the children had committed? They were playing outside the house. Why should they be shot at?” cried Anita Devi, the mother of the injured boy Sahil.
Given how influential as a politician Suryadev Singh has been in the area for two decades, police remained tightlipped about the incident.
“The former MLA has been arrested after statements made by local residents about the firing act. We are probing to ascertain the circumstances that led to the incident and also on how children on the ground received injuries in a firing allegedly carried out at the terrace,” said a police official involved in the investigation.