In two separate ghastly murder incidents that have sent shock waves across Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and the political circles of the national Capital days ahead of Parliament Session, former State Minister Mukesh Sahni's 70-year-old father was found stabbed to death at his native home in Darbhanga district. Meanwhile, in southern India, a senior functionary of Naam Tamilar Katchi was hacked to death in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, on Tuesday. The killing of Balasubramanian, who is Madurai district deputy secretary of the NTK, comes days after the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party state chief K Armstrong in Chennai.
Jitan Sahani, father of Mukesh Sahani, was allegedly found murdered at his ancestral home in Bihar's Darbhanga district, police said on Tuesday. His body, with several stab injuries and cut marks on his chest and stomach, was found inside his room at his house in Biraul area this morning.
A former Bollywood technician who heads a fledgling outfit Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP), Sahni was away in Mumbai when the information reached him, party sources said. Upon arriving in Patna, on way to Darbhanga, Sahni told reporters at the airport that he was telephoned by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and RJD president Lalu Prasad. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, in whose Cabinet he had served for about a year-and-a-half, called Sahni to offer condolences and ensure speedy investigation.
A political blame game has followed the tragedy befalling the VIP supremo, who has, in a political career spanning barely half-a-decade, aligned with parties on both sides of the ideological divide. The Nishad community leader, who goes by the evocative sobriquet 'son of Mallah', was won over into the INDIA bloc by Tejashwi Yadav, who gave his party seats from the RJD's own quota in the recent Lok Sabha polls, besides ensuing that Sahni accompanied him at over 250 rallies across the state.
Yadav, who is the leader of the opposition in state assembly, came out with a statement lambasting NDA government for failure to check crime in Bihar where "people are forced to live in terror".
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who had shared the stage with Yadav and Sahni at some of the rallies, offered condolences and said "it is expected that the government in Bihar will ensure strongest possible punishment to the culprits at the earliest and ensure justice to the bereaved Sahni family". Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and party’s general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the murder is highly condemnable.
Leaders of the BJP, which had helped Sahni become a minister in 2020 by getting him elected to the legislative council, only to force his expulsion less than two years later, asserted that the guilty would be brought to book.
"Spoke to Sahni and assured him that the government in Bihar has taken the incident very seriously and culprits will be brought to justice at the earliest", said Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, a former state BJP president. Union ministers Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi also came out with condolence messages. Manjhi, a former chief minister who heads Hindustani Awam Morcha, hit back at the RJD-led opposition.
According to Jitendra Singh Gangwar, Bihar Police ADG (Headquarters), two persons have been taken into custody for questioning, on the basis of CCTV footage obtained from cameras installed in the vicinity of the site of the crime. "They were found moving in a suspicious manner. However, the case is being investigated from all possible angles", said Gangwar, who did not divulge the identity of the detainees. The ADG said the body, which had deep wounds caused by a sharp-edged object on the chest and abdomen, has been sent for post mortem.
RJD leader and Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha alleged the murder of Mukesh Sahni's father has exposed the "chaotic situation" of law and order in Bihar and that it proved there is "jungle raj" in the state. "This is a certificate for the JD (U)-BJP government, that there is no law and order. You can give any rhetorical statements, but the reality is that there are no districts from where such reports are not coming," he said.
In Tamil Nadu, the NTK functionary - Balasubramanian - was on a morning walk when he was chased and done to death by the gang, a police official said. Police, however, ruled out any political motive in Balasubramanian's killing. The party's chief coordinator Seeman condemned the killing and urged the police to arrest the culprits immediately. "Preliminary investigation reveals that the killing could be a revenge attack. Investigation is underway," a senior police official said.
The incident happened on Vallabai Road in Chokkikulam. The assailants inflicted fatal injuries on the NTK leader before making good their escape. Balasubramanian was rushed to a nearby private hospital but was declared "brought dead," said police.
