New Delhi: The two persons killed in Bihar's Katihar district during a protest over power supply disruptions did not die in police firing, the Bihar Police has said. To support its stand it has now released a video of an "unidentified" man opening fire at the protest site. Police said that the victims were hit by the bullets fired by this man.
District Magistrate Ravi Prakash and Superintendent of Police Jitendra Kumar made the claim while sharing a CCTV footage of Wednesday’s incident with the media.
"It is a planned conspiracy. We had been smelling a rat since the police had fired its shots from a place too far to have hit any of the protesters," SP Kumar told media.
The officials further said that the CCTV footage showed a man with a man "coming from the direction where the first death took place. He can be then seen shooting at and injuring two other bystanders, one of whom died later".
“Today, we came at the incident spot for an inquiry. Whatever we do will be fact-based. We checked the CCTV camera. We first went where the body was recovered and found that it is impossible for the bullet fired by the police to have hit the deceased given the distance. It is visible in the CCTV that a youth comes and opens fire at the two persons,” the SP added.
According to reports, two persons died while several others, including police personnel and power department officials, were injured in Barsoi area of Katihar during a demonstration demanding better electricity supply.
While Khurshid Alam died on the spot, Sonu Kumar Sahu succumbed to injuries at a hospital a few hours later. Another person, Neyaz Alam, is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Siliguri in West Bengal.
The police officials said an FIR has been registered against named and unidentified persons. However, they did not disclose the identities of the accused.