PATNA: A mob set ablaze around 80 houses in Mahadalit Tola over a land dispute under Mufassil police station limits in Nawada district late on Wednesday.
Sources said the people of the Mahadalit community had been living on government land for the last around 10 years. On Wednesday evening, a group of miscreants reached the Mahadalit Tola and opened fire.
Subsequently, the mob set the houses on fire. Spotting the smoke emanating from the surroundings the inhabitants of the houses rushed out to safety. They tried to save their houses from being completely destroyed in the inferno but in vain.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday reviewed law and order situation in the state. After the review meeting, Nitish sent additional director general (ADG), law and order, to Nawada to oversee the ongoing investigation.
CM Nitish asked the officials concerned to ensure arrest of all accused at the earliest.
A senior police officer posted at the state police headquarters said that so far 15 people have been arrested in connection with the Nawada incident. He described the situation in Nawada peaceful and under control.
Over 100 police personnel had been deployed at the village to prevent the situation from turning grimmer. Sources claimed that the miscreants set houses on fire in Krishna Nagar Tola of Dedoor village after reportedly firing bullets.
According to police sources, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) had been formed to further investigate the matter, and searches are ongoing to apprehend any remaining suspects.
"We are providing relief materials, including food packets and drinking water, to those displaced. Temporary tents have been set up for the victims," Nawada District Magistrate Ashutosh Kumar Verma told PTI.
Verma refuted claims that cattle were charred in the incident, stating, "No evidence has been found to support that."
As per preliminary investigation, members of the Paswan and the Manjhi communities have a long-standing dispute over some non-cultivated land. Both sides have also reportedly received the government paper as the matter is sub judice.
Nawada SP Abhinav Dhiman said that miscreants torched around 40-50 houses as 21 houses were completely burnt. There is no casualty as of now, he added.
He said that the main accused had already been arrested and other 10 people detained and the land dispute between two sides led to the incident.
Sources from the Chief Minister's Office said, "The CM condemned the incident and also emphasised the need to apprehend all suspects as quickly as possible. Police have so far arrested 15 people, a day after arsonists torched 21 houses in Nawada's Manjhi Tola.”
"The CM stressed that those who take the law into their own hands must be caught and punished. He directed all district magistrates and superintendents of police across the state to ensure that the rule of law prevails," a senior official of the CMO said.
Additionally, the CM instructed DMs and SPs to conduct searches in all local prisons to prevent any unlawful activities.
Local residents said that one Nandu Paswan has been detained by the police. They said that Nandu Paswan along with his close associates had threatened the villagers to vacate the land earlier. They alleged that Nandu and his men opened fire to terrorise them before they set their houses on fire.
Reacting to the incident, RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav commented, “Maha Jungle Raj! Maha Danav Raj! Maha Rakshas Raj! More than 100 houses of Dalits were set on fire in Nawada. There is fire all over Bihar under the rule of Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is untroubled, NDA allies are unaware! The poor are burnt, dead - what do they care? Atrocities on Dalits will not be tolerated.”
"The terror of goons on Mahadalit Tola in Bihar's Nawada is another proof of the jungle raj of NDA's double engine government," Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.
"It is highly condemnable that about 100 Dalit houses were set on fire, firing was done and everything of poor families was snatched in the darkness of the night," Kharge claimed.
He alleged that the BJP and its allies' "utter indifference" towards Dalits and deprived, "criminal neglect" and encouraging anti-social elements is now at its peak.
"Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi is silent as usual, Nitish (Kumar) ji is carefree in the greed for power and NDA's allies have become silent," he said.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the incident of "burning down more than 80 houses of Mahadalits" in Nawada, Bihar is extremely horrific and condemnable. Firing dozens of rounds and creating terror on such a large scale and rendering people homeless shows that the law and order situation in the state has completely collapsed," she said in a post in Hindi on X.
"The common rural-poor are forced to live in the shadow of insecurity and fear," she said.
"I demand from the state government that strict action should be taken against the bullies who commit such injustice and all the victims should be properly rehabilitated," Priyanka Gandhi said.
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also called for full financial support by the government for rehabilitation of the poor victims.
"The incident of burning down of many houses of poor Dalits in Bihar's Nawada by the goons and ruining their lives is extremely sad and serious. The government should take strict legal action against the culprits and also provide full financial help for the rehabilitation of the victims," Mayawati posted in Hindi on X.
(With inputs from PTI)