Brick kiln owner, 11 workers killed in Nalanda

BIHARSHARIF: Eleven innocent labourers of a brick kiln along with its owner Kamta Prasad were gunned down at Sare village under Benar police station of Nalanda district on late Friday night by criminals allegedly belonging to Bipin Choudhary gang.
The criminals were demanding "rangdari tax" (extortion money) from the brick kiln’s owner.
About 25 armed criminals arrived at the kiln around 11.30 pm and suddenly opened fire on Kamta Prasad and 14 labourers after lining them up.Out of 15, nine were killed on the spot and three others succumbed to their injuries later — Saper Paswan (40) of Onda died at Biharsharif Sadar Hospital, and Lakhan Paswan of Dayalpur and Kanhaiya Dharhi of Issua died while being taken to Patna Medical College Hospital.
Three other labourers who sustained injuries in the incident are being treated at Biharsharif Sadar Hospital.
According to Nalanda SP Amit Lodha, the heinous crime was the handiwork of Bipin Choudhary gang for realising "rangdari tax". He said during the recent parliamentary polls, Choudhary and some of his supporters had been arrested and they are still in the Biharsharif jail. Lodha said five persons, including another kiln owner, Vijay Mahto, have been arrested.
At the place of occurrence, a labourer, Umesh Tanti of Amirbigha, who had a lucky escape from death, said the criminals thought that he too had been killed. The criminals made Kamta Prasad and 14 labourers stand in a row and opened fire. They, however, did not disturb women and children, he said.
Umesh said he fell on the ground and pretended to be dead. He remained motionless till all the criminals had left the site.
The bereaved families have been given Rs 10,000 each. Each family would be given a house under Indira Awaas Yojana. The deserving ones would also get old-age pension, Nalanda DM Anand Kishore said.
The Patna division commissioner and central range DIG too rushed to the place of occurrence on Saturday morning to take stock of the situation.