CPIML Bihar State Secretary Kunal said on 23 March 2022 that the brutal killing of Viresh Chandravanshi (from the Extremely Backward Castes) at Hilsa in Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's home district Nalanda, the ensuing atrocities on dalits and extremely backward castes by the police and feudal forces, and the reign of terror being established by the police in Western Champaran are extremely condemnable. The so-called 'sushasan' (good governance) government today stands firmly on the side of feudal-criminals and is eager to push Bihar back into the pre-1990 phase.
On 23 March a CPIML enquiry team led by MLA Rambali Singh Yadav went to Hilsa where the incident had been perpetrated on 18 March. The team included State Committee member Umesh Singh, District Secretary Surendra Ram, Arun Yadav and Pramod Yadav.
MLA Rambali Yadav said that this incident is the latest example of the Nitish government's total self-surrender in front of feudal-criminals. A resident of Nadha-Nadhar village in Hilsa, Viresh Chandravanshi (30) s/o Ramdeep Chandravanshi did 'jugaad' vehicle work in Patna. He had come to his village during Holi. On the morning of 18 March Deepak Sharma, a Bhumihar from the same village, took him out with him. At 3 pm Deepak Sharma returned but Viresh Chandravanshi did not. When Viresh's mother and nephew Rajesh asked why he had not returned, they were told that he was lying fallen in the fields. People went to look for him and found his dead body in burnt condition.
The angry villagers went to Deepak Sharma's house. There they caught Ajit Sharma who had also gone to the fields with Deepak Sharma and Viresh Chandravanshi. When the villagers out pressure on him he admitted that 5 people together had strangled Viresh to death and then doused him in acid. Meanwhile the police came to the spot and, siding with the feudal-criminals, fired 5 rounds. The police took away Viresh's body and Ajit Sharma with them.
Meanwhile, Deepak Sharma's wife filed a case of vandalism and loot in their house against 47 named accused persons from the dalit-extremely backward communities. The police also registered an FIR against 44 of those 47 named accused persons as well as other unnamed persons. What is ridiculous is that among the named accused persons are small children like Rajesh (aged 10) s/of Virmani Rajvanshi, Bhola Kumar (age 3) s/o Sunil Chandravanshi, Niraj Kumar (10) s/o Vinod Paswan and Raja Kumar (7) s/o Manoj Paswan.
The police came again on the night of 21 March and caused mayhem in the Tolas of the poor. Doors were broken, people beaten up and money looted. The police took away 27 people to the Thana and continued beating them throughout the night. The beating continued the next morning also and 6 people were sent to jail. The police forced 62 year old Urmila Devi to do 'murga bano' (a humiliating subjugatory posture) in front of her granddaughter.
The District SP has stated that Viresh Chandravanshi's death was caused by electrocution, whereas the enquiry team found that there is no electric pole in the vicinity of the spot. The SP himself is trying to hush up the crime.
Similarly, after the custodial death of Anirudh Yadav in Sikta Block (Western Champaran) aroused the wrath of the people, the police have established a reign of terror in the area. Cases have been filed against more than 700 people. CPIML MLA Virendra Gupta said that the people's anger at the custodial death was natural but the Bajrang Dal people gave it a violent turn. The matter should be investigated and the police should refrain from any repressive action.
