Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s (JMM) Youth Wing Secretary Munna Chentan Bhagat finally succumbed to his injuries on Thursday at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Science (RIMS). Kacchap, along with the other two party workers Viay Kumar and Shekhar Mahto, were shot at by some unidentified criminals on Wednesday night following which they were rushed to RIMS for treatment. Bhagat had received three bullet injuries around his stomach and waist.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren also visited RIMS to meet the injured JMM workers and consoled the family members of Bhagat. Police are investigating the reasons behind the shootout. Condition of the other two are said to be stable. With the death of Kacchap there is a wave of grief among the party workers who believe that there must be a sense of fear among the criminals. “This is a serious matter and police should make all efforts so that there must be a sense of fear among the criminals who must think twice before taking such steps,” said party General Secretary Vinod Pandey.
Meanwhile, party leaders accepted that the law and order situation across the state, especially in the capital city was at the lowest ebb. They complained to the CM about poor policing in front of Ranchi SSP and demanded strict action. “We told the CM that there was absolutely no policing in the city and its outskirts. We keep moving during night time due to party related works and rarely find patrolling vehicles and policemen. If there is no police presence how will they stop crimeIJ I also told them that they should legalise all illegal arms so that at least they (police) would know who had committed the crime,” said JMM Spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya.
“The SSP said that he should be informed in case of poor policing but why should the common man inform the police. It is their duty to check crime. They have given a bike named tiger mobile and 20 litres of fuel for a month for patrolling. How will that poor policeman manage to do patrolling with just 20 litres of pretrol in the whole monthIJIJ This is bizarre. We have complained to the CM as the SSP had no answers and the CM took the complaints very seriously,” Bhattacharya added.
Police on the other hand have started investigation in the matter and claim to have identified the culprits who will be arrested soon by the police. “We have got some strong leads in the matter and we are working on it. Bhagat was not actually the target but came into the range as he was present there along with the person who was actually targeted by the culprits,” said SSP Bheemsen Tuti. We have come to know about a strong reason behind the attack on the backdrop of which the incident took place, he added.
“We are exploring all the possibilities – land dispute or personal enmity anything might be the reason,” said the SSP. According to the reports, Kacchap along with his six friends were returning from a friend’s wedding ceremony at Hotwar farm and as soon as they stopped at a friend’s place, someone hiding behind the wall started firing at them indiscriminately and walked away. Eyewitnesses however, claim to have seen only one person firing on them.