ASSEMBLY POLL '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS '98
ARCHIVES

Ranvir Sena warns of more massacres

The outlawed Ranvir Sena today threatened that Khakaria village in Jehanabad district and Akbarpur village under Paliganj police station in Patna district would be its next targets.

Sena spokesman Shamsher Bahadur Singh said in a statement that all villages which have become centres for extremists would be attacked.

He said the attacks would continue till the economic blockade imposed by "extremists" on farmers is lifted.

The farmers are on the verge of starvation following the economic blockade by the "extremists" as agricultural operations have come to a halt, he said.

Sena activists distributed the statement in the offices of all newspapers and news agencies.

Owning up the Shankarbigha carnage, in which 22 people were gunned down on the night of January 25, and other such massacres in the past, Singh said several villages are on the hit list.

Meanwhile, 25 suspected Ranvir Sena activists have been named in a first information report lodged in connection with the Narayanpurbigha massacre, according to Deputy Inspector General of Police (Magadh range) S K Bharadwaj.

Police also suspect the hand of another right-wing extremist group called the Swarn Liberation Front. The carnage occurred at Chamartolibigha hamlet comprising 40 houses of cobblers.

The DIG said the modus operandi of the assailants clearly showed the involvement of the Ranvir Sena.

He said the incident occurred at 9pm IST on Wednesday, but the victims could contact the nearest police outpost in Paibigha only at 7.30am IST on Thursday. Only then did the Sakurabad police act and arrest four men.

Bhardwaj said efforts are being made to impose a punitive fine on Narayanpurbigha and Dhobhibigha (Shankarbigha) villagers who allegedly sheltered the assailants.

District Magistrate Pratay Amrit said several stringent measures would be taken, including cracking down on the identified assailants, immediately.

He said 18 of the 23 accused named in the Shankarbigha carnage are already in jail.

A posse of policemen, including Central Reserve Police Force personnel, has been deployed at Narainpurbigha.

The bodies of the victims were cremated on the bank of the Morhan river in an adjoining village. The victims included six males and five females, aged between 12 and 40.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report