Patna burns as Ranveer Sena men run amok

Nitish, Sushil Modi were out of town during violence

The Bihar  government’s  reputation for  ‘good governance’ received a major blow on Saturday when a motley group of 5,000-odd supporters of Ranveer Sena founder Brahmeshwar Singh indulged in vandalism, loot and arson.

The rampaging mob, accompanying the funeral procession of Brahmeshwar Singh from Ara to Patna, torched nearly 50 vehicles, attacked 14 journalists and scores of policemen besides roughing up innocent on-lookers in the heart of the state capital.

Throughout the vandalism, the Patna police remained a mute spectator, with majority of them running for cover when the angry supporters of Brahmeshwar Singh went berserk. Senior police officers said they had instructions from the “top” not to use force in the surcharged atmosphere in order to avoid escalation of violence.

The irate crowd, before reaching the cremation ground at Baans Ghat in Patna, burnt police pickets, jeeps, cars, vans, buses, overturned milk carrying vehicle and damaged a pulse-polio van apart from forcing closure of several  ATMs and business establishments.

For five hours (from 1 pm to 6 pm), there was an undeclared curfew in the state capital with the unbridled Sena men having a field day. Incidentally, all this happened when Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and Patna District Magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh were out of town. While Nitish was in Bhagalpur for Sewa Yatra, Modi was out of Bihar. The DM is also reported to be on leave.

“Most of the youth who indulged in vandalism and arson, are ardent supporters of Ranveer Sena (a banned outfit of militant upper caste Bhumihars). Had we got instructions, we would have tamed them in no time. But surprisingly, our hands were tied today,” said a senior cop on duty, refusing to be identified.

Unanswered questions

Most of the residents, out of fear, remained indoors, when the cavalcade from Ara was passing through Patna. But many questions remain unanswered. It is perplexing that why Nitish was not in the state capital when there were apprehensions of violence ever since Brahmeshwar was shot dead on Friday and also police top brass and other senior government officials’ inaction against marauders.  And this also remains unanswered that who will compensate for the damage caused to private vehicles and government property.

Meanwhile, Bihar DGP Abhayanand, in the evening, convened an emergency meeting of top police officials and issued instructions to book all those who went berserk earlier in the day. “Video footage will be used to identify the culprits,” said the DGP.