Patna: Ahead of counting for the Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, Janata Dal (United) leader Anil Kumar was hacked to death in Nalanda on Monday. Anil was the polling agent of Kaushlendra Kumar, the JD(U) MP from Nalanda.
Having won four successive elections from Nitish Kumar’s home turf, Nalanda, in the past two decades, Kaushlendra is in the fray again as the JD(U) candidate from the Nalanda parliamentary constituency. The polling took place in Nalanda in the last phase of the election on June 1.
The murder of Anil on June 3 has sent shock waves through this Lok Sabha constituency. The Nalanda police have launched a manhunt to nab the unidentified assailants after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is in New Delhi to meet the NDA leaders, expressed his shock and dismay over the killing.
Sources in the district administration said that 62-year-old Anil was waylaid and hacked during a morning walk on Monday. “His relatives rushed him to the nearby hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries,” said Nalanda District Magistrate (DM) Shashank Shubhankar.
“The exact cause of the killing is not known. But a manhunt has been launched to nab the assailants,” the DM added.
Kaushlendra also visited the hospital and residence of Anil and consoled the family members.
This is the third major poll-related violence/killing during the 2024 parliamentary election in Bihar. The first incident took place in Saran after Lalu’s daughter Rohini Acharya, the RJD candidate from Saran, had a verbal clash with the BJP supporters on the polling day of May 20. The next morning, this clash escalated further, and in the firing that took place, one person was killed and three were seriously wounded. Internet services were suspended for three days to restore normalcy in the area.
On June 1, former Union minister Ram Kripal Yadav, who is contesting as a BJP candidate from Pataliputra, was also attacked in rural Patna on the day of polling on Saturday. Though Ram Kripal’s aides sustained injuries, he escaped unhurt.