On Bihar Man Beheading, Sushil Kumar Modi Countered By His Own

PATNA: An attempt by the Darbhanga administration to link the beheading of a 60-year-old man to a property dispute is incorrect, two senior Bihar BJP leaders said on Saturday, contradicting the claims of the local police and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

"The dispute that escalated (and led to the murder) had started due to this chowk being named Modi Chowk," Bihar BJP president Nityanand Rai told reporters after visiting Darbhanga, 150 km north of Bihar capital Patna, on Saturday.

Ramchandra Yadav, 60, was beheaded by a group of around 50 men, who attacked his family and killed him when he tried to intervene. His son Tej Narayan had linked the attack to a board they had put up, renaming one of the main intersections after Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He had claimed members of the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal workers were involved.

The district police has said three persons had been arrested in this case but called the attempt by the victim's family to link it to renaming a town square after PM Modi was a publicity stunt.

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Sushil Kumar Modi, the Deputy Chief Minister, had made a similar point in a tweet last night..

"Totally false that the murder in Darbhanga case was due to naming Modi Chowk. It was a case  of land dispute. The board was put long back, murder has nothing to do with board," Sushil Modi tweeted on Friday night.

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But Union Minister Giriraj Singh, who also met the Yadav family, accused the police of trying to hide the facts of the case. He said the police "did not allow the truth to reach the government".

"I don't know why the police want to hide the facts... but the dead man's wife told me that when they were threatened by the police when they mentioned the Modi board," Mr Singh said.

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Local BJP workers had held a protest against the killing but police officers had tried to play down the sensational attack.

Neither Nityanand Rai nor Giriraj Singh referred to the tweet but only statements attributed to district police officers.

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Nityanand Rai said it was possible that there had been a pending land dispute between the two sides.

"But that case has nothing to do with this attack... That is an older issue," the Bihar BJP  president said, promising to help the family get justice.