May 29 night witnessed a unique type of mayhem which shook the entire Bihar. A police party of about 100 including 50 CRPF personnel headed by an inspector of Shamateur town, Girish Pandey, attacked the marriage party of the daughter of Sukrit Rai, a Yadav, at Haripur-Saidabad village. How many killed even the Killer (police) is not sure. Initial official report put the toll at only three but other sources fear it may be over 20 as, according to them, police took away many bodies with them and threw them at some desolate place.
What provoked such a bizarre killing? Versions and mouths are almost identical in number. But one thing is clear the carnage if not provoked by caste consideration, as argued by many, had certainly intensified the ongoing battle between the “forward” and “backward” castes in the region.
The police went to the house of a noted criminal of Shamateur, Chetan Roy, but when they failed to find him, they thrashed his brother. When Chetan heard it, he went on a beating spree. He singled out people suspected to be police informer and, in the process, even assaulted a volunteer of Samta Gram Seva Shanshan, a voluntary body run by some socialists.
On the May 29, police inspector Pandey raided the marriage party without informing the district police chief.
Rajput and Yadav criminals had been at loggerhead in this region since long and Inspector Pandey was in league with the Rajput’s. The Indian Peoples Front which sent its fact-finding team to the village said the former Congress minister, Anugrah Narain Singh, was behind the carnage. (Feature & News Alliance).
