Bihar: Four held for Begusarai mass shooting

Four people were arrested on Friday in connection with the mass shooting in Bihar’s Begusarai earlier this week in which one person was killed and 10 others were injured, police said.

In a first of its kind incident, the suspects, riding motorcycles, had resorted to indiscriminate firing at multiple locations across a 30-kilometre stretch on the national highway in the district on Tuesday.

Following the incident, police had announced a reward of ₹50,000 for any “credible lead” on the suspects.

Those arrested have been identified as Chunchun Singh, Sumit Kumar, Keshav Kumar alias Naga and Yuvraj Singh.

Police have recovered four cellphones, two countrymade pistols, five live cartridges and one of the two motorcycles used in the crime, besides used clothes from their possession, Begusarai superintendent of police (SP) Yogendra Kumar said.

“During their interrogation, the four suspects confessed to the crime. They said their motive was to spread terror and establish supremacy of their gang in the Begusarai region.Out of the four suspects whose CCTV images have been circulated on social media, only two, Yuvraj and Sumit, have been arrested,” said the SP.

Additional director general (ADG) of police (headquarters) Jitendra Singh Gangwar told reporters that police had examined CCTV footages from 22 locations. “Raids were carried out in six districts and over 25 suspects had been detained,” he said.

“Chunchun Singh is said to be part of a liquor mafia and kingpin of the gang. He recently got bail from the Patna High Court in a criminal case,” Gangwar said.

Chunchun, a resident of Barauni in Begusarai, is facing six criminal cases, including of murder and attempt to murder, police said.

“Acting on a tip-off, a police team caught one of them (Yuvraj) when he was on his way to meet a lawyer in Begusarai court. During interrogation, he revealed the name of others. Keshav was arrested from Maurya Express train at Jhajha station while he was trying to flee to Ranchi in Jharkhand,” the ADG said.

SP Yogendra Kumar said police have evidence that the accused were in contact with each other.

Police said Sumit and Keshav also have a history sheet in crime.