Veena Devi, the wife of strongman and former MP Surajbhan Singh, was touring the area for election campaigning when the incident occurred.
The cycle of violence in Bihar amid the ongoing Assembly elections continued on Friday, as criminals shot dead a father-son duo—Pramod Mahato and Priyanshu Mahato—in Bhojpur, while unidentified miscreants attacked the convoy of RJD candidate Veena Devi in Mokama, around 100 km from Patna.
Veena Devi, the wife of strongman and former MP Surajbhan Singh, was touring the area for election campaigning when the incident occurred. The attackers pelted stones and bricks at her convoy, shattering the windshield of her vehicle and damaging two others. She was escorted to a safe location soon after the attack.
Tension spread across the area following the incident, as Veena Devi’s supporters termed it a politically motivated attack.
Just a day earlier, Dularchand Yadav, a veteran politician and supporter of Jan Suraaj candidate Priyadarshi Piyush, was shot dead in Mokama.
Supporters of Dularchand Yadav have accused muscleman and JD(U) candidate Anant Singh’s followers of carrying out the attack, while Anant Singh has blamed Surajbhan Singh for orchestrating it. Police have registered a case of murder and initiated action against Anant Singh and five others.
Tension escalated further on Friday during Dularchand Yadav’s funeral procession, when his supporters clashed with members of the rival faction, leading to incidents of firing and stone-pelting. Dularchand’s supporters alleged that the rival group opened fire on them, causing chaos and panic at the scene.
While Mokama witnesses a fierce contest between two musclemen vying for political supremacy, gunfire once again echoed in Belghat village of Bhojpur district on Friday, where criminals shot dead the father-son duo, Pramod and Priyanshu Mahato.
The double murder has sent shockwaves through the region, with angry locals taking to the streets in protest. The victims were riddled with bullets at close range, and the assailants fled the scene, leaving behind a silent motorcycle, a spent cartridge, and many unanswered questions.
The deceased, Pramod Mahato, was an active worker of the Rashtriya Lok Morcha party. Police suspect that the killings may have a political motive, not merely a case of personal enmity.
Earlier, a police sub-inspector, Aniruddh Paswan, was brutally murdered with a sharp weapon in Siwan. His body was found in bushes on Thursday, and the gruesome nature of the crime has sparked widespread outrage.
The shocking series of killings, barely a week before the Bihar Assembly elections, has heightened political tensions across the state. Opposition parties have begun attacking the government, alleging that “jungle raj” has returned to Bihar.
