An altercation broke out on 5th April (Sunday) in Bihar’s Madhubani district between a Hindu and Muslim families, allegedly over switching off lights following PM Modi’s call, to show complete resolve and solidarity in the fight against coronavirus with this symbolic gesture, which led to the murder of an elderly Hindu woman.

The accused Sulaiman Nadaf, Khalil Nadaf, Malil Nadaf, Jalil Nadaf etc, who strangulated 70-year-old Kaili Devi after the argument, are now absconding. The deceased’s son Surendra Mandal has filed an FIR for murder against all the accused.

Rahika SHO Rahul Kumar confirmed that “The accused are absconding. A case under Section 302 has been lodged against the accused on the statement of the deceased’s son. The body was handed over to the family after postmortem,” adding that a dispute over switching off the lights between two neighbours led to the incident.

Copy of the FIR

Copy of the FIR

This incident has sparked anger and rage in the Hindus of the area. The locals have demanded justice and a compensation of Rs 10 lakh from the administration for the deceased’s family at an expeditious level. They have also demanded that the accused should be arrested soon and awarded the death penalty. Heavy police force has been deployed in the area to avoid communal tension after the incident.

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The incident took place at around 9 pm on 5th April (Sunday) at Satlakha Mani Das Toll of Rahika Block under Bisfi Legislative Assembly, Madhubani, Bihar, when Surendra Mandal asked his two Muslim neighbours to switch off the lights of their houses to support PM Narendra Modi’s call. But the neighbours refused and kept the lights on.

Mandal again urged his neighbours to respect PM Modi’s appeal and switch off the lights, which led to an argument between the families. Suddenly the accused barged into Surandra Mandal’s house and strangulated his mother, Kaili Devi, to death.

The victim was rushed to the primary health centre at Rahika where the doctors declared her brought dead. A postmortem will be conducted on the deaceased after which the police will ascertain the reason for the death of the elderly woman.

Surendra Mandal, son of the deceased woman, has filed an FIR for murder against all the accused. His family has alleged that the murder accused are close to local MLA Fayaz Ahmed, and have expressed the fear that the case might be dismissed and the accused might not be booked due to their political connections.

Speaking about this incident, Madhubani’s Legislative Council member Suman Mahaseth said that the accused persons in the village of Satlakha, where this incident took place, started abusing Kaili Devi’s family members when asked to switch off the lights. Kaili Devi allegedly went to urge the Muslims not to get abusive and unnecessarily get into a fight, when few people from their side had attacked her.

Calling the incident unfortunate and tragic, the chief Jai Prakash Chaudhary appealed to the villagers to cooperate with the administration in finding out the reality of the incident. He also urged to maintain peace. Police officer Rahul Kumar said that an FIR has been registered on the application of the woman’s son. Postmortem of the body has been done. Madhubani SP Dr Satya Prakash said that the incident was caused due a mutual dispute. The case is being investigated, action will be taken against the culprits, said the SP.

PM Modi had on Friday urged people to turn off lights at their homes for nine minutes at 9 pm to display the country’s collective resolve and solidarity to defeat the deadly coronavirus.